#author: ieatgrassalot

[yeehanfrf]

Week 14 Recs: Mermaid for Each Other

For Week 14, we celebrated MerMay with the theme "Mermaid for Each Other." Here are mermaid and other sea creature fics from the Yeehan community!

Behind the cut, you'll find them organized by rating and then alphabetically by title.

Teen and Up

Heart of the Sea by Odds_Evens [8,824 words]

After a rouge fire throws Jesse McCree overboard he finds himself stranded on an island with only a shy mer for company.

Mature

Match Made Under the Sea by Mish_chan [3,469 words] Note: "The one above is the specifically YeeHan one of the series. Here's the main series: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2915367."

Hanzo has felt like he has never really fit in, with his bright orange/red and white coloration and being one of the only or very few hermaphrodites in his pod. That is, until he sees a rancher/escort mer...who has the same coloration as he does, and calls another hermaphrodite mer his father.

The Monster in the Lake by ieatgrassalot [6,855 words]

Cole, now retired, find his solitary new lifestyle a bit lonely. A few broken nets later, he finds himself getting to the bottom of this mystery and somehow solving the loneliness problem all at once.

Explicit

Away by Vimeddiee [29,154 words] Reccer comment: "This is about a selkie, not a mermaid, but the vibes are correct."

Hanzo awakens to the feel of grit in his eyes and the crunch of sand between his teeth. This in itself doesn’t rudely force him into consciousness, but the insistent flicking against his nose that he groggily attempts to bat away, does.

“High tide’s coming, you better nap someplace else.”

Drink Sweet Salt by Kalikuks [WIP; 57,245 words] Reccer comment: "It’s not been updated in a while, but what is there is still very enjoyable. It’s a mixed bag of angst, cuteness, oddity and hilarity."

Hanzo watches the lightning dance across the clouds and tries to summon his dragon spirits, met with not even the sight of them cresting from his tattoo but the underlying feeling of weak static crawling beneath his skin.

With his last deep breath before the tide rises fully over him, he curses at the sky.

In Your Embrace by Dracoduceus [4,335 words]

Jesse is fully expecting to have to fight and bribe his way back into Hanzo's good graces. After a long swim to bring back the fish that his adopted human fathers intend to raise and study, he goes to search out his pretty mate.

Turns out Hanzo has a much different idea of how McCree should show how sorry he is.

Of Scales, Sand and Sun by Kalikuks [2,767 words]

“Name’s Jesse, darlin’,” the mer, Jesse, replies with every bit of flirtation his lopsided smile lends to, “An’ you?”

“Hanzo,” the naga leans down closer to Jesse, “You can call me Hanzo, dear Jesse.”

Jesse chitters happily, lifts a hand to reach for one of Hanzo’s. The naga gives Jesse his hand, lets the mer show him attention and affection by kissing along his knuckles. Yes, today is looking to be more interesting than Hanzo had thought.

On the Shore by Dracoduceus [9,247 words]

His friends meant well.

That’s what McCree needed to remember.

His friends meant well. ----

McCree didn't have high hopes for the beach vacation that his friends dragged him to.

That all changed when he stumbled upon a private beach...and a very attractive man half-buried in the sand.

Singing Stones by Kalikuks [4,158 words]

“You are mine?” “Yes.” It is barely a whisper, and Seeker nuzzles the hand pressed to his cheek, “I’ve been lookin’ all over for you.” “And here I am,” the other mer purrs.

Sunlit Scales by Interrobang [28,346 words] Reccer comment: "Yaaay it made it and heres my rec Sunlit Scales in which cole is mer and hanzo fisherman. Theres smut but overall very wholesome and cute 😌"

A collection of stories about fisherman Hanzo and merman McCree. Absolutely filthy. (Gets fluffy in later chapters because...eggs. Still occasionally dirty af though.)

Tide by hunahuna_un [3,306 words]

Just two mers, swimming in the deep sea, chasing each other cause they're so gay.

- Just the thought of Hanzo doing the dance of the sirens made him groan, let alone seeing it, this close. Finally.

Never had Jesse felt this excited about the dance of their kind - enticing him, just so. Hanzo had captured him completely, lured him in from the first flick of his tail, the first gleam of interest flashed from his eyes. He tried to reach out to touch, but Hanzo swam just out of reach again, pulling an impatient growl out of Jesse.

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We've reached the end of the MerMay recs! Thank you to everyone who submitted a recommendation, and to spinefrepple for suggesting the theme!

If you find a fic you love using this rec list, be sure to leave the author kudos and a comment! Even "I found this fic because someone recced it" is a lovely thing to say.

Come back next time for Week 15: "Loud and Proud," celebrating the start of Pride month with fics about LGBTQIA+ identities and/or Pride events.

In the meantime, you can also check out the Week 13 recs here, or check the full list of past and future themes here.

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Curious about the icon and some of the fic titles? This rec blog supports #EndOTWRacism, a fan campaign asking the AO3 to make good on its 2020 promises to address racist harassment on the site. Fans of color deserve to feel safe and welcome in fan spaces. To learn more, please visit @end-otw-racism and read their Call to Action.

[yeehanfrf]

Week 6 Recs: Show & Tell

Week 6's theme was "Show & Tell," which is all about expressing our feeeeeelings. I asked for love confessions, and I got some dreamy, some swoony, some heart-going-pitter-pattery, and some a little achy. Check below for recs from the Yeehan community, organized first by rating, then alphabetically by title!

Not Rated

With a Smile Like That by ieatgrassalot [3,831 words] Reccer comment: "this one right here, short and sweet, makes me smile like no other"

Three times Hanzo Shimada smiles and the one time Cole Cassidy decides to say something about it. a.k.a. Hanzo has a scary smile that only Cassidy is smitten by, and the people on base think its equal parts adorable and tooth-rotting-ly sweet. Genji is tired.

Teen and Up

Bend Down the Branches by vaguely_concerned [7,054 words] Reccer comment: "it's part of a series but can be read as a standalone! Yeehan meet again after years and years!"

“I love what they’ve done with the place,” Cole said, looking around the room. “I didn’t think they could go any more spartan than they already had, but now they’ve even removed the lampshades.”

��Agent Winston said the moths had gotten to them,” Hanzo said. “He is considering new patterns as we speak, he assures me.”

Well. That wasn’t quite the way he’d ever envisioned this conversation going, the few times he’d been dumb, drunk and masochistic enough to think it could ever happen. Something about how he’d missed him, maybe, or even simply if he’d been happy - Winston’s lampshades hadn’t figured anywhere in the scenario.

(The new Overwatch is still in its fledgeling days and they meet up again after a long, long time.)

Unaddressed by robocryptid [11,100 words] Reccer comment: "maybe not traditional love confessions, but each one is a treasure"

He gave twelve years of his life to the original Overwatch. He’s seen dozens of MIA cases, investigated more than a few of them himself. It’s not new. It’s just that now the organization’s so small; it makes it feel a lot more personal.

Winston gave the order. He can’t argue with the logic that he’s the one whose background best fits this particular task. But it was Genji asking him directly — trusting him with this in a way he knows it’s hard for Genji to trust — that made him agree to it.

So he rummages through Hanzo’s desk in search of anything that could help.

Wake-up Call by fishpoets [2,149 words] Reccer comment: "a beautiful love confession where nobody actually confesses anything ❤️"

Falling in love is deceptively simple. Admitting it is trickier.

Why Aren't We an "Us" by Kalikuks [1,511 words] Reccer comment: "“Why aren’t we an Us” might still have the old name but I find it very cute still"

Jesse and Hanzo are good friends; to the point where a good majority of the team thinks they're dating.

Turns out there's a bet on if they are or not.

Mature

Cowman and Dragonfly by FrostysaurusRekt [4,435 words] Reccer comment: "it’s not like an outright confession thing but like… it’s so sweet i couldn’t not recommend it this week"

When Hanzo falls, he falls hard and fast.

A month. That’s how long it takes for him to find himself completely lost in daydreams of too much cologne and western drawl that slides sinuously around his heart and cinches tight. It takes a month for Hanzo to open like sunflower, basking in the warmth of a stranger-not-stranger who is not here for his status or his money, but who is here because he thinks Hanzo is beautiful and because he chases after Hanzo’s smile and laughter like a faithful dog playing fetch.

Explicit

Acceptable Substitute by mataglap [47,494 words] Reccer comment: "the fucking LETTER"

Hanzo has lived without certain things for so long that he has all but forgotten about them. Cassidy is a bright red exclamation mark of a reminder, and Hanzo discovers that the saying "out of sight, out of mind" unfortunately also works in reverse.

Meanwhile, Cassidy is an exceptional liar, and the most egregious of his lies are the ones he tells himself.

Burning Hearts and a Brand New Feeling by robocryptid [48,562 words] Reccer comment: "a surprise love confession that made me go all gooey"

It’s just like he told Angela: the thoughts take up too much space. He’s staring at the coffee maker, but in his head he can see Hana smiling and Angela pushing a lock of hair behind her ear and Baptiste flashing his dimples when he laughs. He can hear Winston’s noisy chewing. He can hear a song again, one he can’t place.

He leans his weight on his hands, fatigued by the onslaught of information. While he’s clenching his jaw and watching the steady drip of coffee into the carafe, he thinks of someone’s ass, fingers pressing into the meat of it. His face is already hot enough before he processes what that ass is wearing: jeans, light wash, with fraying on the back pockets, a brown leather belt in the loops, a red plaid shirt tucked into the waist.

It’s his ass. It’s his ass, and he’s not thinking of it like someone’s doing it to him — or he wasn’t, before now — but like he’s the one doing it, like it’s someone else’s point of view, someone else’s fantasy. What the hell?

--

Or: after an experimental treatment for his migraines, Cole develops the ability to read minds. It gets weird.

Raging Stallion by Phylix [138,903 words] Reccer comment: "incredibly horny and hilarious comedy of errors ends with a sweet confession"

It started with Drunk Hanzo pressing the nuclear option and getting his brother involved in his love life. All Hanzo wanted was a man that fulfilled his every need, instead, what he got was a brother who tried way too hard and a neighbor that may just fulfill every last dirty fantasy Hanzo ever dreamed of.

It shouldn't matter that Genji's the one with the blossoming career in the adult entertainment industry. It shouldn't matter that Jaxson McCoy, the world's greatest porn star's real name is Cole Cassidy, and he is living right next door, and he is even better looking in real life than on film. And it especially shouldn't matter then that a simple case of mistaken identity could lead him to a man even more interesting and more sensual than anything he had ever seen on screen.

How could any of this be Hanzo's fault?

Throwing Stones at the Stars by robocryptid [WIP; 92,329 words] Reccer comment: "Brilliant fic bridging a decade, the rare strangers-to-friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic, and *multiple* confessions that somehow become *more* affecting as they stack up"

Despite Hanzo's competence, the Shimadas chose to hire a new bodyguard for the heirs. The elders found the one they wanted: an American mercenary so deadly some called him a demon. He was remarkably skilled, insolent, and above all mysterious. Genji, of course, liked him right away, but Hanzo had his doubts.

Watcher in the Woods by Kalikuks [84,072 words]

Hanzo gets the uncanny feeling that he’s being towered over and instinctually tips his head up, even if he sees nothing.

“You can’t see me,” a deep honeyed voice rumbles from above, a good few feet above, Hanzo guesses.

“I—“

Hanzo’s reply is drowned out when the hunting party crashes through the foliage behind him and the screaming begins.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

AU Where Hanzo is Blind and Jesse is an eldritch being of sorts that drives men mad when they look upon him. They fall in love.

And that's a wrap on the Week 6 recs! Thank you to everyone who submitted a recommendation! Keep an eye out for the Week 7 theme: "Fever Dreams," for crackfics and other wild and wacky rides.

In the meantime, you can also check out the Week 5 recs here or check the list of past and future themes here!