Chapter Text
Lena leapt over the last five steps of the library stairs leading to the common rooms, landing with a muffled thud before making a sharp right towards the language section of the building. She carefully leapt over a table, barely missing a stack of textbooks and papers as she practically flew. She clutched her book bag and stopped, glancing up and down the rows of shelves filled to the brim with books. She spotted her tutor, sitting patiently at their table with a copy of Twilight and reading along with bored eyes. She quickly dashed over, waving wildly with a grin.
“Sorry I was running a bit late, ‘Melie.” Lena apologized, setting her study guides and French books haphazardly onto the desk. “Winston kept me back, said I needed to do some research for him over Winter Break.”
Amelie set the novel down and threw an unimpressed glance at the brunette.
“I'm proud of you.” Lena grinned at the comment but her smile quickly fell when Amelie shot her a glare,”But that's the 3rd time this week, I'm beginning to think you really don't take these tutor sessions seriously.”
Lena pouted and took Amelie’s hand between her own.
“Love, I'd be failing this bloody bullshit class if it weren't for your blessed, kind heart.” she said with eyes wide and a genuine smile.
“It's not bullshit,” Amelie said in mock hurt,”You're lucky the administration didn't throw you into something else like Chinese or German. French is such a beautiful language.”
“As beautiful as a gorilla.” Lena teased. ”The grammer is pure hell.”
The older woman rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away, reaching for the papers Lena strewn all over their work table.
“Ever so charming. Well let's see what we have here...”
Lena stared at Amelie, nodding every now and then to make it appear as if she was paying attention. And she was, to every word of Amelie’s lecture on French grammer and vocabulary.
But she was also focusing on the way her lips moved, her enunciation and accent. On the way her eyes would glance from the paper to Lena, to make sure she was understanding. The way she would chuckle, quietly, when she taught Lena new words and she would have difficulty pronouncing them. The way Amelie would smile at her, even when Lena would frequently show up late to their tutor sessions. The way that, even though Amelie wanted to appear stoic and aloof, her facade would always melt when she was around Lena.
The brunette knew Amelie would never see her the same way she did, but she was more than content to keep it as close friends.
After an hour or so of studying and playful banter, Amelie had to leave for her next class. She stood somewhat relunctantly, collected her supplies, and handed back now completed assignments and study guides.
“You better be here tomorrow, on time.” Amelie emphasized. Lena packed her things away and grinned up at her tutor.
“Anything for you, Amelie.” she offered a two finger salute and Amelie rolled her eyes. She offered one last smile before waving goodbye.
“Au revior, Lena.”
The brunette waved back fondly as Amelie turned to exit the building.
---
Lena sat in her room on a bean bag, strumming her guitar gently and fingering out random chords and notes. Fareeha laid on the floor at her feet, grinning up at her phone as she held it up from her face and tapping away. When she giggled quietly, Lena couldn't help but cringe.
“Fareeha, love, what're you doing?”
The Egyptian suddenly sat up and whirled around to face Lena, clutching her phone to her chest and hiding the screen from her. She was blushing like mad and Lena easily put the puzzle pieces together.
“Are you getting nudes?!” Lena yelled, sudenly interested in whatever Fareeha was giggling about earlier. Fareeha quickly stood and made her way towards the door. But Lena was faster, setting the guitar down on its stand and tackling Fareeha down before she could open the door. They wrestled on the floor, trying to take the phone from the other.
“They're not nudes!” Fareeha said breathlessly, trying to lock her phone before Lena could grab it. She clicked the off button and smirked at the smaller girl, but Lena wretched the phone from her hands, raising it above her head and leaping onto the top bed of their shared bunk beds. It was too close to the ceiling for Fareeha’s broad shoulders to fit through, but it was just enough room for Lena to retreat into.
“I hate to tell you this, but I have a good guess on what you're password could be.”
The phone buzzed twice, rejecting Lena's initial inputs before granting her access when she put in: ang31azeigler123. The phone buzzed again as it allowed Lena access and she cheekily grinned down at the Egyptian.
“You should really change your password.”
“Lena!” Fareeha whined from underneath extending the last syllable, but she didn't make any move to grab her phone back. Lena skimmed through the texts before peeping over the bed to stare at Fareeha.
“You guys are bloody cute, what the fuck. I didn't even know you knew the word ‘cutie’.” Lena teased before she tossed Fareeha the phone. ”No nudes, though. Shame.”
“You're such a softie.” she added when Fareeha snatched her phone back.
Fareeha observed her phone for any scratches then snorted,”I'm not the one writing songs about my crush.”
The tips of Lena's ears glowed bright red and she threw a pillow at the older woman from her crow's nest.
“S-Shut up!”
Fareeha reached over to Lena's desk and grabbed their lyrics book, flipping to the most recent song. She sat comfortably on the bed underneath Lena and read the verses aloud:
“Sometimes you gotta bleed to know that you're alive and have a soul. But it takes someone to come around to show you how; she's a tear in my heart, I'm alive. She's a tear in my heart, I'm on fire. She's a tear in my heart, take me higher than I've ever been.”
Fareeha suddenly fell silent, reading the rest of the lyrics, and Lena dreadfully waited for her critiques.
“This… Shit, this is actually really good. Lena, this is about Amelie?”
Lena hesitated before she said,”Ye...ah?”
Fareeha immediately rolled out of bed and shoved the book in her face.
“We have to record and upload this right now.” she said, her eyes showing a familiar, determined glint.
“Love, those are just the lyrics and some chords-”
“I can figure out a beat and other shit. Let's get to the closest recording studio, now.” Fareeha insisted.
Lena stared at her. The Amari was more stubborn than anyone she has ever met and she knew her friend would be relentless in her request.
“How ‘bout, first, we go over it once or twice together and maybe -- Maybe! Tomorrow we can head over to Lucio and Hana to get it recorded, deal?”
“Lit.” Fareeha grinned,”We should play it at Jack’s, too!”
“You honestly think that it's that good of a song? What if it flunks on YouTube?” Lena asked skeptically as she climbed down from the bed. She tossed herself onto her bean bag and opened the book again, going over the lyrics self-consciously.
“All those verses and words? They came from the heart.” Fareeha smiled gently, patting her breast gently,”They'll love it. How about I-”
“Fareeha, I already don't like it.” Lena squinted at her. She chuckled and lightly punched her.
“I'll get Angela two tickets and backstage passes for herself and Amelie, then, for the last song, we get Amelie onstage and you sing her the song.”
“But she'll know it's me!” Lena exclaimed.
“Unless you pull your mask off like some giddy Brit-fuck.” Fareeha argued,”No one can ever guess that Lena Oxton, some engineer major and track team star, is Tracer, a singer and one half of Phracer.”
Lena hummed suspiciously,”Alright, alright. I get the point.”
Fareeha glanced at the time on her phone before pocketing it.
“Just don't worry so much and it'll be okay.” Fareeha reassured her,”Phracer can only get bigger, after all.”
“Alright, alright. I'll see you around, Fareeha. Tell Angela I said hi.” Lena teased as she left. Fareeha frowned and huffed in mock anger before stalking out of the dorm room.
---
Angela sighed heavily and scooted off the couch. She tried to stretch her legs far enough to rest on the coffee table before her. Amelie’s legs were already comfortably settled on the edge of it and grinned behind her mug of coffee while she watched the prodigy struggle.
“Amelie.”
“Yes, Dr. Ziegler?”
“I'm tired.”
“I know, cherie.”
They shared a moment of silence.
“You think I can ask Zarya to bench press me to the moon?”
Amelie set her cup down and elbowed her gently,”You may, but Fareeha will be quite lonely. She'll have one less person to call ‘my cutie angel’.”
Angela suddenly stood up from the sofa and retreated to the kitchen of their shared dorm.
“How'd you even-? I changed the password to my phone!” she whimpered helplessly.
“Mmhm, but Lena just so happened to have gotten into Fareeha’s phone. You two are sickeningly sweet.” Amelie stared at her empty mug before adding,”But… It's been a while since I last saw Fareeha this happy.”
“Anyway!” Angela said, abruptly clapping her hands together,”Are you busy next week? Friday, maybe?”
“Depends. What're we gonna do?” Amelie stretched her head over the couch to look at her.
Angela casually sauntered towards her friend and leaned over the couch next to Amelie. She produced two concert tickets and Amelie stiffened; she recognized the logo almost immediately.
“I just so happen to have an extra ticket to Phracer next Friday down at Jack's.”
“How'd you get these?!” Amelie held the tickets like they were made of porcelain,”I tried getting some but the venue was private and the tickets were expensive and-”
“None of that stuff matters, are you down to go?” Angela asked in a sing-song voice. Amelie faced her sharply, her eyes narrowed slightly.
“I'm not busy Friday.” Amelie said.
Angela smiled and dropped a lanyard onto her lap. A backstage pass.
“Oh, and I got these, too.”
Amelie looked up at the blonde with teary eyes and asked in a small voice,”Are you an angel?”
The prodigy shrugged and sat next to her friend.
“Just a woman with connections.” she winked as she attempted to kick her feet up against the table again.
---
Amelie barreled into Angela’s study room. The prodigy sighed without looking up from her thick anatomy textbooks and readjusted her glasses.
“I reserved this room for individual study time, if you need my help I'm afraid I'm busy at-”
“Angela, they just dropped a new song and it already has over 20 million views.” Amelie said in a low voice.
Angela turned and squinted behind her glasses at her friend.
“Phracer?” she didn't expect Lena would let Fareeha record and upload the song that quickly on such a short notice.
“It's just a lyric video, but it's official and everything. I can't believe they'd just drop one with no notice, all Tracer tweeted out was ‘This one goes to a special girl’ and a link and - oh my God do you think they'll play it tonight - ”
Angela suddenly reached out and held Amelie’s hand in her own.
“Amelie. Breathe, schatz.”
“Sorry, sorry, you're busy I'm just gonna…” she stood slowly and pocketed her phone.
Angela smiled and squeezed her friend’s hand before she could exit.
“You should go find Lena, I bet she's as all over this band as you are.”
Amelie frowned,”I'm not about to throw my reputation out on the street like that.”
Angela waved her hand around and made a face,”What reputation? You may act like such a hard ass but Lena can see through it like crystal.”
The French woman crossed her arms and huffed adamantly.
“I'll see you tonight. Maybe I'll just check in on Lena.” Amelie said and headed for the exit.
“Try not to look too excited.” Angela mocked. Amelie just rolled her eyes and left.
---
Lena jumped up and down as she tried to calm her nerves before getting onstage. Fareeha twirled around her worn drum sticks and watched Lena hop around helplessly. They both could hear the already growing crowd behind the thin walls of their backstage room.
"Man, just watching you hop around like that is making me more anxious." Fareeha groaned as Lena just waved around a hand to dismiss her.
Jack came in and threw them a cool water bottle each.
“Hey, Mr. Morr- Jack. Thanks again for letting us play tonight.” Lena said as she twisted the cap off the bottle and downing the drink is one gulp.
The man shook his head and smiled,”It's no problem, girls. Gabe loves the music anyway so the pleasures all mine.”
“Sap.” Fareeha taunted.
“Hypocrite.” Jack threw back with a smirk before cackling when Fareeha slid her mask down to cover her burning cheeks.
“You guys’ll do great out there, just don't hype yourselves up too much.” he reassured, laying a wide palm on Lena's shoulder.
With that, he shut the door. Lena slid her aviators back over her eyes and went back to her nervous hopping. They could hear Gaberiel hyping up the crowd which meant that they had just seconds left before they go.
“Ready?” Fareeha asked, slipping her mask over her face to hide her identity. One eye was exposed by a hole cut open on the right side of her face.
Lena cracked her neck and hid the rest of her face behind a bandanna. The felt slid over her nose and down to just underneath her chin. Able to see her own two hands and Fareeha behind her shades, Lena was satisfied.
Her identity well hidden, Lena nodded at her partner,“Let's go.”
They emerged from they're room, masks and bandannas on and hiding their faces. The first persons they see are Angela and Amelie. Lena feels exposed but tugged on her bandanna firmly, reminding herself that she's anonymous under the cloth. She felt confident enough to shyly wave at Amelie and smiled to herself as she waved back enthusiastically. Angela had told her Amelie is a secret Phracer fan but would never admit it to a soul.
Amelie grabbed Angela's arm as the two headed towards the center of the stage. “Angela, holy shit, they just waved at me. Tracer waved at me.”
The blonde grinned fondly and watched as Fareeha casually stretched behind her drum set. She took a mental note of how well defined her lover’s arms were.
Lena followed Fareeha towards their instruments, piano and drums respectively. Lena sat behind the grand piano, her leg bouncing nervously against the hardwood of the stage beneath her.
She gave Jack the ‘okay’ and the curtains pulled away, revealing a small yet loud crowd of screaming fans to greet them. Lena finds her lost confidence among the sea of people and reached for the mic that hung above the piano. She clutched it tightly and looked at the individual faces of the audience.
“You ready to get fucked up?” Lena dared to roar. Her ears rang at the crowds’ response.
“Then let's go!”
Fareeha started first, crashing the drums and Lena sang loudly yet beautifully into the mic and the crowd and Amelie went wild. The beat was solid yet somewhat sullen as Lena played her heart out on the piano, crashing keys and notes. Fareeha struck her drums sharply, her arms raising high and mighty over her head before crashing back down.
The two students were standing by Jack off to the side of the stage, away from the audiences’ sight.
“Angela, Angela, oh my God Angela-”
“With someone as erratic as you, you can't make me believe that this is your first Phracer concert.” Angela smiled at her friend’s excitement. Jack chuckled from behind the control panel.
"That's what I told Gabe the first time they played here!"
As it neared the end of the concert, the songs Lena sang became softer and a little slower. Amelie sang along gently with every song, watching Tracer play the piano with ease as Pharah crash the drums, matching every beat Tracer played. The two were beautifully in synch.
They ended on the last note of the last song, but the crowd begged Lena for another song. The brunette glanced at Fareeha and she nodded with a grin behind the mask.
“I think Pharah's up for another song. What do you guys think?” Lena asked the audience. She got screams and shouts of approval back. Lena raised a fist as the crowd falls silent and said,“This one goes to a girl that's got my heart wrapped around her finger; and I'd like you two up here.”
Lena gestured towards Amelie and Angela.
“Us?” Amelie asked the blonde hesitantly. Jack just pushed them forward and suddenly they're onstage before a crowd of a hundred-some people. The lights are bright and Amelie fely a little dizzy as the stage crew brought out a guitar and three stools for them. Angela scooted back, towards the drums and let Amelie take a seat next to Lena.
“Tracer, hi, uh I…” Amelie started out hesitantly. She was utterly starstruck.
“You alright?” Lena asked softly; Amelie looked like she was about to faint. When she nodded, Lena smiled underneath her guise.
“A little bird told me that you were our number one fan. Is that true?” she swung the mic gently towards her as she looked at her expectantly.
Amelie’s eyes widened slightly and she held the mic,”Phracer is my all-time favorite American band.”
Lena smiled behind her cover,”Then you'll definitely know this one.”
She nodded at Fareeha and the Egyptian pounded the cymbals as Lena strummed.
“Sometimes you gotta bleed to know-” Lena sang out.
“-That you're alive and have a soul.” Amelie completed the verse as if she wrote the song herself.
Lena paused and grinned widely.
“She's got it!” she cheered.
Lena continued with the next line, Amelie singing with her. Amelie felt nauseous as the crowd sang along with them, and the lights shined like the sun in her face. But she sang along softly anyway, trying hard not to appear too excited.
“My heart, is my armor. She's the tear in my heart, she's a carver. She's a butcher with a smile, cut me farther than I've ever been.”
Lena ended the song, letting the last chord ring out. She threw her signature two-finger salute at the crowd before the curtains covered the stage once again.
Angela helped Amelie down from the stage through a sea of excited fans after the French woman got a signature from both Tracer and Pharah. She felt a bit dazed as they made their way towards Angela's car. When Amelie pulled herself into the passenger seat, she brought out her backstage pass to look over the two signatures.
Tracer’s was big and sharp, all in capital letters scrawled messily on one half of the pass. Pharah's was smaller and a little more neat, with a tall, uppercase ‘P’ and neat, cursive ‘harah’.
Half way through the ride home, Angela sleepily asked,”Have fun?”
“I think I'm going to be utterly exhausted tomorrow.”
Angela chuckled softly,”We're getting too old for this…”
“27 isn't old.” Amelie protested, dozing off in her seat already.
“It's closer to 30 than it is to 20.” the blonde said, pulling into the school’s campus.
“I'm willing to bet that Fareeha makes you feel like you're 20.” Amelie remarked, following Angela towards the dormitories. Angela blushed and waved her hand to dismiss the totally incorrect assumption.
Amelie opened her mouth to retort, but Angela unlocked the door to their shared dorm with a satisfying click. Neither of them say another word as Angela literally collapsed on the couch and snored away. Amelie had enough strength to carry herself to bed and throw herself underneath the thin covers. She managed to pull off the lanyard around her neck and looked over the two signatures again.
Satisfied, she hung the pass on her desk lamp before promptly falling asleep.