This is a Christmas special episode. It won’t have any ties to the previous or future episodes. I’ll get back to Sombras plans of doing a heist next time. Merry Christmas to everyone!
It’s a cold evening in late december, the night before Christmas. The snow is falling heavily on the hills and covering up the road, and by the minute it’s harder to see if you are even on it. A big furry figure begins to emerge in between the snowflakes and the dark. Winston. He corrects his glasses, which are partly covered in ice. In his arms he holds a small, slim and seemingly fragile body. It doesn’t move. Tracer. He carefully cover her in the blanket he is holding, then tug her into him even closer. He grunts and starts walking again. Shortly after, a small village appears, and he breathes a sigh of relief. The town provides some coverage from the wind which also makes it easier to breathe.
He looks around. The whole town is lit up by Christmas lights in all sorts of colours, but mainly in green and red. He looks into the windows of the houses as he pass by, and smiles. People having a good time. He presses on, he knows he is on a timer, he needs to get to Mercy before it’s too late for Tracer. He walks through the town, looking for the Inn. He has never been here before, but Tracer wanted to go here when the invite arrived from Reinhardt and Torbjörn.
As he approached the Inn, he could hear music from inside. It wasn’t the usual Christmas music. Lucio. Winston knocked on the door, and Reinhardt in a big ugly Christmas sweater opened the door. Such a festivity inside, it blasted out the door and surprised Winston a little. Reinhardt looked at Winston, went up in the biggest smile ever and greeted him welcome, and then he saw Tracers in his arms. “Come in, come in, old friend!” and before Winston could even say anything, Mercy was by his side, grabbing Tracer from his arms. She carried her to the couch and started to tend to her.
“Winston, for how long have she been unconscious?” ... Winston looked at Mercy, took off his glasses to remove the ice from them and answered “For… arrheemm... For a couple hours... I guess. I’ve been monitoring her vitals. She should be okay. Keep her warm.” He walked away. Mercy took out her medical kit and started to examine Tracer. Lucio walked over to keep Mercy company. His crush on her had been going on for a while, but he had doubts, not only about his own feelings but also if she even reciprocated them. For now, he would try and be nice to her and see what could happen.
Out in the kitchen, Ingrid was serving some hot tea for Winston. Reinhardt walks into the kitchen, slams his hand on Winstons shoulder “You did good, my friend. I’m glad to see you made it here.” Winston made a grunt of approval and corrected his glasses “So how have you been, Reinhardt?” - Reinhardt laughed heartily and began telling stories from the whole year. Ingrid smiled. It was good to see old friends getting back together after a long time. “I need to go check on Tracer” Winston left the kitchen. Reinhardt turned around and smiled to Ingrid. “We need to loosen up the monkey. Any good ideas?” Ingrid smiled and poured some cherry liqueur in the tea and handed it to Reinhardt. He giggled and walked into the living room.
The common room was buzzing with festive people. Symmetra was using her light technology to decorate the room in her cool blue light in cool shapes. The tree in the middle of the room was shaping up nicely with both homemade decorations and some of Symmetras cool additions. Whenever Symmetra turned her back on something she just had done, Sombra sneaked up behind her and hacked it to twinkle in different colours or shine in a specific colour - some of the decorations were big enough for her to make small videos or logos in. She noticed Symmetra putting up a small ornament, but with a big enough surface for her to play with - she giggled and cloaked. The ornament was hanging low, under the tree, more or less. She added the Talon emblem to it.
D.va was in the corner, setting up a gaming console to the tv. She was hoping to get some of the others to play a few games with her. She had some cool co-op and party games ready. As she powered up the console to make sure everything worked, Reinhardt came over to her and greeted her “My wonderful tech savvy friend, how’s it going?” D.va got on her feet and jumped into the couch next to him, controller in hand. “If it works, then splendid, big guy!” He laughed and handed her a drink.
Lucio left Mercy to tend to Tracer and he fired up the soundboard. Music started to fill the room, and by the magic of music, peoples spirit got lifted a little. He couldn’t keep his eyes off Mercy, especially right now. She was at her most beautiful when tending to people in trouble. He blushed a bit and took his eyes off her, only to find out Ana was looking it him. She smiled when their eyes met. “Oh snap!” went through Lucios mind.
Ana was sitting in the end of the room, overlooking everyone having a good time, and talking to Pharah, her daughter. She enjoyed looking at people interacting with each other - and while she doesn’t see her daughter often, they always have trouble at communicating. She sipped at her tea. She walked over to Mercy to ask if there was anything she could help with, to get Tracer back on her feet. As she kneeled down beside her, Tracer began to gain consciousness. With a sigh of relief, Mercy got on her feet. Ana offered to stay with Tracer for a while, and Mercy smiled and thanked her. She walked over to the couch where Reinhardt and D.va were sitting.
They were playing a party game with different minigames, when Mercy sat down next to D.va. Only a short moment went by, before Ingrid came with a plate of her apple pie and some cherry tea for Mercy. She had noticed her treating Tracer and was good with people, and thus knew that Mercy was a little exhausted right now. Reinhardt and D.va was fighting fiercely in the minigames and Mercy enjoyed being a part of the audience. She was enjoying Lucios music too. What was up with him coming over anyway? She had been too busy treating Tracer to even think longer than acknowledging his presence. Other than being a fan of his music and a fellow healer, she hadn’t thought of him in other ways. She had always liked his personality and his looks wasn’t too bad either.
Torbjörn walked in, all dressed up as Santa, and he had a big sack full of presents with him. Now that Tracer was sitting up in the couch, with a blanket over her legs, drinking some tea, the atmosphere freed up a little more. Ingrid had been arranging that everyone was buying one gift to someone else, but no one knew who they got their present from - everyone had just one present to unwrap.
After everyone had unwrapped their present and shown everyone else what they got, people started to talk in groups and show their gifts in detail to those interested. Mercy was amused when she noticed how Winston had begun to interact with the others, he was even making jokes and laughing more than usual. She looked at Lucio, talking to Tracer. Unexpectedly she saw him in a new light. His smile was cute.
Ingrid served a delicious meal for everyone to enjoy, the Inn was practically dancing from people being in good mood. By chance, Lucio and Mercy sat together at the corner - their knees kept touching. Lucio didn’t mind being this close to her, he was overjoyed inside of being this close to her, even in direct contact. Around the corner of the table, Mercy was deliberately letting their knees touch. It was one of her tests to confirm if there could be interest from the other party - random touching them. As everyone emptied their plates, she had gotten more sure of it - and she was surprised to realise that Lucio had some form of interest in her. She smiled, as she was talking with him, and wiped off a bit of sauce off his cheek. He laughed nervously and their eyes met.
Reinhardt talked loudly, as always. “Arh, dear Ingrid, is it time for dessert yet?” and a few of the others around the table, more notably the ones with a sweet tooth, cheered on. Mercy got up to help Ingrid with the empty plates and to get the dessert from the kitchen. Lucio couldn’t get his eyes off her, even he tried to - he didn’t wanted to be too obvious as at least one person had observed him earlier… he jumped when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked up and met a yellow eye with lots of knowledge in them. Ana. He blushed, and Ana smiled.
“Looks like you might lose your heart to the blonde medic.” Lucio smiled. “Eh, maybe. What about it?”. Ana leaned back in the chair and took a sip of her drink. “Looks to me that she seems to like you too.” he looked her in her eyes and baffled said: “Really? You think so?” Ana chuckled “Oh please. If anyone knows the signs at this table, its me.” Mercy and Ingrid had begun to put plates on the table with the dessert: apple pie with whipped cream on the side. As Mercy went out in the kitchen for more drinks, Lucio grabbed two plates and followed her into the kitchen.
As she took out the chilled mocktail from the fridge, he entered the kitchen. She looked up, surprised to see him. He grabbed her hand “Come with me”, and as surprised as she was, there wasn’t much else she could do. They entered a small, cosy room. He closed the door and put down the two plates on the small table. Mercy’s head was spinning: What now? As she had entered the kitchen to get the mocktail, she had begun to think of a plan to get closer to Lucio. She was usually the one to make the moves with anyone. He seemed tense and he was hesitating. She took a step towards him and now they were standing very close together.
She touched his arm ever so lightly, and he looked up. Their eyes met. In her sweet voice, Mercy asked “You mind if i try something?” He hesitated, took a small step back. She smiled, and grabbed his hand. Their eyes met again, and she touched his neck and stepped forward, closing the small gap he just made. Their lips met in a soft touch.
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