Chapter Text
Crisp cold air nipped at Widowmaker's neck as she and Tracer stood in front of two large glass doors. Her purple hair blew in the harsh wind tickling her cheeks as it went. She and Tracer both wore formal suits, hers with a purple vest and a purple bow tie finished with sleek black heels, Tracer's with a red one finished with red sneakers. Widow rubbed her blue skin with her gloved hand and bit her bottom lip. She wasn't ready for this. She'd told Tracer she'd do anything for her, anything to prove that she was dedicated to her, but this, this was different. It was the night of Overwatch's New Year's Eve party. Tracer had approached her about this party two months prior and begged her to attend. "It will give people a chance to know the Amélie I know," she'd said. Finally, a week before, distracted by Christmas bliss, she'd reluctantly agreed to attend only if they could leave right after the countdown. Now standing outside the doors she couldn't bring herself to go in. Tracer gently rubbed her cheek and looked into her glowing golden eyes. "It's alright, love," she said quietly. "I'll be with you."
Though Tracer's words were comforting it didn't change how she felt. There were multiple reasons she didn't want to go inside. Most of these people she hadn't seen in a casual setting since before Talon and before what she'd done to Gérard. They made it very clear what they felt about her after, not that she faulted them. She'd killed her husband, not allegedly or rumored. This was a fact. Who wouldn't hate someone for that? She'd also seen most of these people in battle, nearly killed some of them and wouldn't hesitate to try again. Surely they'd have things to say after seeing her on Tracer's arm. But those weren't the only reasons she didn't want to go in. There was one person in particular she was not ready to face and she knew they'd be inside.
Tracer held out her arm to grab and looked at Widow warmly. "Shall we?"
Widow stared at the doors with pursed lips, her breath held in her chest. Reluctantly, she grabbed Tracer's arm and together they proceeded forward.
"Wow. You look amazing." Pharah gazed at Mercy like she was an angel that had just descended right before her eyes. Mercy was wearing a sleeveless blue dress that was shorter in the front than the back, drawing attention to her toned legs. It also brought out the deep blue of her eyes. The dress was cut low drawing attention to the heart shape of her breasts. Her hair was down, hanging right at her shoulders. Pharah wore black slacks and a black button-down shirt, with a tie the same shade of blue as Mercy's dress. They stood in the bathroom down the hall from the main ballroom where the party was taking place. From the distance Mercy could hear the muffled music playing and feel it thumping in her chest. Mercy handed Pharah her small silver purse and checked her makeup in the mirror for the third time.
"Did you hear me?" Pharah asked.
Mercy paused, turned, grabbed Pharah's face and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before checking her makeup again. It wasn't that it didn't look right. It didn't matter how many times she looked for flaws she couldn't find any, which made it hard for her to stall. She wasn't ready to make her grand entrance to the party with Pharah on her arm. This was not the place to announce their relationship, she'd told Pharah that, but Pharah thought otherwise. Pharah was tired of creeping around trying to hide from everyone. She wanted the world to know that Mercy was hers. It wasn't like most hadn't figured it out anyway, but Mercy wasn't ready to confirm their suspicions.
It had only been two months since she'd split from Genji, a very public breakup. Everyone questioned her during the time. Was she feeling okay? Was she in the right mental space to work? Was she using her best judgement? Yet not a single soul questioned him. Once they found out about her and Pharah she knew what would be the next assumption. Ooh, that's why she left Genji. But it wasn't. Her relationship with Pharah was very new and it didn't start until things ended with Genji. Not that she hadn't felt an attraction to Pharah beforehand, but she didn't act on it until after their separation. She also could hear the other comments. Pharah's just a rebound. She's not really into her. And there was no doubt in her mind that once Pharah's mother Ana found out hell would follow. There was once a time in the infirmary Ana noticed Mercy gazing at Pharah a little too long. After Pharah left the room she'd backed her into a corner. With her finger in her face she hissed, "Don't you dare even think it."
Mercy did not want to put herself in a position where a scene could be made at her or Pharah's expense. These people were her coworkers. She had to see them every day. She cared what they thought of her. She didn't want her reputation to suffer at the hands of scandal but Pharah's soft brown eyes made her reconsider. This was what Pharah wanted, what was going to make her happy. Though she disagreed with this time and place, Pharah was right about one thing. It was going to come out eventually. Why not bring in the new year right? Mercy turned, grabbed Pharah's hands and kissed her lips tenderly. "I'm ready now." A large smile spread across Pharah's face as she walked to the bathroom door and opened it.
"After you, my love."
The party was in full swing with two hours to go before the new year came in. The dancefloor was full while waiters and waitresses glided through the crowd delivering champagne and hor d'oeuvres. Lúcio was far off in the back of the room manning the DJ booth. D.Va was lounging behind him with her legs kicked up, a bag of doritos in her lap and a champagne flute full of mountain dew between her fingers. Her brown hair was pinned up. She wore tight black jeans with a silky sleeveless pink blouse with the back cut out, black heels on her feet. It was the closest to dressing up she was going to get. Lúcio looked back at her and smiled which she returned half-heartedly. It wasn't that she didn't like Lúcio because she did more than she liked most people. But she also felt like Lúcio was one of the best friends she had. Crossing the line would mean risking that friendship and she wasn't sure if it was worth it. Plus, there was another person on her radar.
"Any special requests?" Lúcio asked over his shoulder.
She looked at him curiously. "Thought you weren't taking any requests."
Lúcio smiled slyly. "For you I will."
D.Va looked out at the crowd. A bunch of old people sipping champagne. She rolled her eyes. How boring. This party needed some life. A smirk came across her face. "What about OMG by ARASH?"
Lúcio gave her a confused look. "Not sure if this is the crowd for that."
D.Va pouted and rolled her eyes again. "Of course not."
She felt a smooth vibration in her back pocket. Quickly she pulled out her phone and saw she had a message. I'm right above you. Immediately she perked up. Finally, some entertainment. She excused herself as Lúcio was asking for another request, and slipped to the right side of the room where a staircase was. Quickly she climbed it to a balcony that overlooked the dancefloor. There was a large group up there lounging on the sofas like they were VIPs, but there was a secluded corner in the back where no one was. She weaved between people until she saw a flash of purple in front of her. A glowing pink smirk came into view before the rest of her. D.Va smiled wide when she saw her face."Took you long enough."
"Yeah, yeah. You could've helped me with security."
"Doesn't seem like you needed it."
Sombra smiled proudly. "Not the point."
D.Va had given Sombra a tentative invitation predicting that she would be bored out of her mind ahead of time. However, it wasn't formal, meaning Sombra had to find her own way in. If she was stopped by Overwatch's security D.Va could easily deny the invitation so it wouldn't get back to 76 that she was associating with someone from Talon. She also wasn't sure if Sombra would actually show up but she was glad she did. Sombra's hair hung on either side of her face so that her shaved side wasn't visible. Still the pink tips gave it a luminous glow that stimulated D.Va's eyes.
Sombra pointed to the DJ booth. "Couldn't tell your boyfriend to play something a little less boring?"
Maroon 5's "Moves like Jagger" played over the sound system.
D.Va's eyes narrowed. "He's not my boyfriend. And he's considering his audience."
Sombra rolled her eyes and put her hand on her chest. "Well now I'm a part of his audience." Sombra pulled up a pink screen using her gloves and began typing. D.Va watched in amazement and envy. She wished she had the skills that Sombra had. It was one of the things that intrigued her and one of the reasons she kept Sombra close. D.Va would never let anyone know it, but she wasn't as great at StarCraft as she led people to believe she was. Sure, she was one of the best, but there was once a time when someone almost took the number one spot from her. It was Sombra who ended up helping her through it by hacking the game and helping her to secure the win. She'd been grateful for Sombra ever since.
Sombra looked up from her virtual screen and caught D.Va looking at her. Her smirk returned. She patted the spot on the couch next to her and D.Va sat not leaving any space between them. She studied the screen and realized Sombra had hacked Lucio's turntable. She was impressed by how effortlessly Sombra moved through the files almost as if it was a second thought. She also enjoyed the sweet scent of Sombra's skin. It was like a mild cinnamon vanilla. She gazed at the smoothness of her mocha skin and found herself lost in her lips. She eased closer to her without thinking. Sombra's body relaxed next to her.
"See anything you like?" Sombra's voice was low, smooth and enticing.
D.Va bit her bottom lip. She was about the respond when her gaze was taken away by movement out of the corner of her eye. There was commotion on the dance floor. D.Va stood up and went to the balcony for a closer look. Her eyes immediately grew wide. "No way."
"What?" Sombra asked without looking up from her screen.
"Your friend is here."
Sombra scoffed and waved her off. "I only have one friend and she wouldn't be caught dead at an Overwatch event."
D.Va grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer so she could see. Sombra cursed her for the interrupted but settled down once she looked down at the crowd. At the entrance stood Widowmaker and Tracer arm in arm. All eyes were on them. Sombra immediately broke out in thunderous laughter. "You've got to be shitting me. She didn't."
"She did." D.Va was shocked. She knew that Tracer had been trying to convince Widow to come to the party for months but she never thought Widow would ever agree.
Sombra pulled her screen back up, scrolled through a list of songs then nudged D.Va. "Set the tone, chica."
D.Va scrolled through the songs until she found the one she liked then leaned over the railing with an excited grin on her face. OMG blasted through the speakers. Below she could see the panicked look on Lúcio's face as he struggled to get control of his equipment. "This should be fun," she laughed.
Sombra smiled. "I hope so."
All eyes were on Tracer and Widow as they made their way across the room. A waiter offered them champagne. Tracer took one. Widow refused. She needed to be one hundred percent to get through this night. She clung to Tracer extra tight annoyed with herself for being so needy and even more annoyed that she'd allowed Tracer to talk her into coming in the first place. This had been a stupid idea. She glanced at Tracer who had a proud smile on her face. That made her relax a little. There was no shame, no regret from her. But that still did nothing for the whispers that were starting to follow. Across the room Ana's fists were clenched, a deep scowl on her face. Soldier 76 was with her.
"Lets get this over with," Tracer said.
Widow groaned and followed Tracer's lead.
Ana's scowl was colder than Widow's skin. "Explain yourself, Lena," she demanded.
Tracer rubbed the back of Widow's hand. "You two know Amélie."
"We are well acquainted with Widowmaker," Ana hissed then rubbed her eye patch.
Tracer swallowed hard. "This doesn't have to be hostile. You said we could bring dates. She's mine."
76 looked Widow up and down. "You must have a death wish."
Widow looked at Tracer who nodded encouraging her to speak. She cleared her throat. "I was not in my best state of mind when that happened," she said gesturing at Ana's eye.
"I'll be sure to remember that the next time I look in a mirror," Ana hissed with contempt.
Widow looked away. Truth be told she didn't want to apologize because she wasn't sorry about shooting out Ana's eye. She'd been more upset about not finishing the job. Ana was a reminder of her failure, but she'd never tell Tracer that.
"She's different now," Tracer proclaimed.
"Yet she still works for Talon," Ana reminded then gestured at Widow. "I don't know how you do it, luring these unsuspecting people into your web. But I will not be fooled. I know the scum that you are."
Widow sneered at Ana. Ana didn't flinch. Tracer stepped between the two then began to pull Widow away. "We're going to explore the rest of the party."
Ana nodded with narrow eyes. "You do that."
"I could've snapped her neck without a second thought," Widow growled as they walked away.
"Amélie," Tracer warned.
Widow took a deep breath to try to compose herself. But that was only the first of many aggravating encounters of the night. There were the comments about her skin. "Are you even alive?" One person had asked.
"The blue, is it a disease? Are you contagious?"
"It can't be healthy to be such a shade."
Then there were the comments about Gérard. "Guess you take that 'death do us part' stuff' literally huh?"
"How can you trust someone who killed their husband?"
"Watch out, Tracer. She'll probably kill you in your sleep."
An hour into the night and she didn't think she could last any longer. She slipped away from Tracer outside of the ballroom. She had to compose herself, control the anger that had built up inside of her. There was no one shot, one kill in this world. Tracer cared about these ill-mannered people. She took deep breaths and tried to calm herself when she saw a pink blur zoom past her. Immediately alert she began to scan the area. Slowly she took a step in the direction she'd saw the blur disappear and a deep groan left her throat. "Sombra."
Sombra and D.Va appeared, Sombra with a smirk while D.Va relayed more sympathy. Widow noticed a smear of pink on D.Va's neck.
"That was brutal," Sombra laughed.
"But at least you didn't kill anyone," D.Va offered, trying to perk her up.
Widow rubbed her forehead and shook her head. "I do not need this tonight."
"You could always leave," Sombra offered.
Widow glared at her. "Why are you even here?"
Sombra nodded at D.Va who blushed.
Widow looked to the exit. It was barely after 11. She'd promised Tracer she'd stay until after the countdown. She then thought about the bar. Maybe a drink could indeed help her get through the last hour. She considered heading that way when the main doors to the ballroom opened. She'd expected to see Tracer but paused when she saw angry blue eyes burning a hole through her skull. Another deep groan escaped her lips. Nope, she didn't need this tonight, but of course it was only right for things to get worse.
Their initial entrance went well, all things considered. Most people already knew of their relationship, so when Pharah and Mercy walked into the room hand in hand most people patted Pharah on the back and simply said it was about time. However, there were some who had comments on how fast she'd moved on from Genji. It didn't help that Genji was not in attendance. Many speculated that this must have been why. He must've known that she would show up with Pharah though Mercy knew that was not the case. Genji had planned to be away long before they separated. The only difference was at the time she'd planned to have been with him.
After some mingling, Pharah and Mercy decided to share a dance in the middle of the room and for a moment Mercy felt completely at ease as if she'd been silly to ever worry about anything. For the moment everything was perfect. Pharah had a firm grasp on her waist, her brown eyes sparkling. Mercy felt lucky to be in her arms. She whispered in Pharah's ear, "You're pretty stunning yourself," and Pharah blushed remembering her unanswered compliment from earlier. She tightened her grasp on Pharah relishing the feel of her breasts against her own and her warm breath on her neck. Pharah's hand eased below her waist. Mercy didn't stop her. She leaned her head back to gaze in Pharah's eyes and ease into a kiss when Ana approached them in the middle of their dance and roughly nodded off to the side. Mercy and Pharah reluctantly separated and went to follow Ana, but Pharah was stopped by her mother.
"Only the doctor."
Pharah gave Mercy an apologetic look as she backed away and allowed her mother to take Mercy. It was then that Mercy was reminded of why this was such a bad idea. All eyes were on them. Ana looked her over with her arms folded across her chest. "You went against my wishes, doctor."
Mercy looked down. "It wasn't planned. Fareeha and I--"
"You knew how I felt about you approaching my daughter. And so soon after Genji. She will not be your rebound conquest."
"She's not a rebound!" Mercy said defensively.
Ana scoffed. "Right. Just like Genji wasn't a rebound. Be honest, it's the only reason you kept him around as long as you did, to try to prove that it wasn't exactly what he was. But we know the truth. We know he was just a way for you to not have to deal with the hurt you felt from--"
"Ana!" 76 quickly approached them.
Mercy pursed her lips tightly. She was a word away from telling Ana off.
Ana held up her hand. "Not now, Jack."
"Yes, now. We have a situation." 76 pointed to the main entrance where the crowd was slowly beginning to focus. Mercy and Ana turned with him and what she saw made her breath catch in her throat. Tracer was at the entrance holding hands with someone Mercy hadn't seen in a long time, not since right after her transformation by Talon. It was someone she was hoping to not have to see ever again, though she'd always known one day she'd have to. Their world was too small, but why did it have to be tonight?
Ana groaned so deeply it came out like the roar of a lion. "You can't be serious!" She then glared at Mercy. "As if you weren't enough."
Ana and 76 quickly walked off leaving Mercy stunned as she stared at how proud Tracer appeared to be holding Widow's hand. It was as if she'd just won the Nobel prize. She then looked at the way Widow clung to her like Tracer was her safety net, her guard completely down with her. Her skin immediately grew red from the heat boiling inside of her. All day she'd been concerned about Ana and her coworkers, unaware that the worst was yet to come.
"Thank God for those two," a voice said behind her.
Mercy looked back and saw Pharah approaching. She wrapped her arms around Mercy's waist and pulled her close, but Mercy quickly pulled away. She couldn't do this right now. It was too much for her to handle. Mercy abruptly headed for the bar. "I need a drink," she called over her shoulder, not waiting around to hear Pharah offer to get one for her. At the bar she pushed her way through the crowd and took a seat. She ordered Appenzeller Alpenbitter on the rocks and downed half of it. Pharah caught up with her and sat beside her. "What did my mother say to you?"
Mercy waved her off. Ana was no longer the problem but she couldn't tell her that. "She made it very clear that she will not support us." Mercy finished the second half of her drink and ordered another. She could see Pharah's worried gaze out the corner of her eye.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let her take you. But we knew as much. We knew she wouldn't approve." Pharah put her fingers underneath Mercy's chin and tilted it up to make her look at her. "It doesn't change anything."
Mercy's eyes slid from Pharah's face to Tracer and Widow speaking with Winston, his furrowed eyes critical behind his glasses. Widow looked like she was in hell. She held her right arm close to her body. Her eyebrows were scrunched, jaw clenched. Tracer's face looked defensive. Pharah followed Mercy's gaze and shook her head.
"I think we're less of an issue than those two."
Mercy scoffed. "She shouldn't be here."
Pharah nodded. "I agree. But they'll figure that out soon enough."
The bartender put Mercy's second drink in front of her. She grabbed it and took a gulp, but before she could finish Pharah grabbed it and eased it out of her hand. "Slow down."
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not. Look, I know this night isn't going too well so if you want to leave..."
But Mercy didn't hear any of that. She was too busy watching Widow and Tracer as they made their way around the room. At one point Tracer grabbed Widow's face in her hands and kissed her forehead. The sight made her cringe. A moment later Widow was slipping out of the room. She shook her head. She'd have been better off seeing Genji.
Pharah's eyes were trained on her, burning into her, she could feel it. She needed to get out of the room. She turned to Pharah and told her she needed some air. Alone. She then took another gulp of her drink and left it with Pharah as she made her way through the crowded dance floor. At one point she bumped into Lúcio. "Mercy! Have you seen Hana?" He asked.
Mercy waved him off. "Not now." She left him looking confused as she made her way to the exit. For a moment she stood by the door. Through the crystal glass she saw the silhouette of three people outside. With a deep breath she composed herself and pushed through the doors. She and Widow locked eyes immediately. She was heading right towards her until she noticed D.Va and Sombra looking at her with wide eyes.
Mercy glared at Sombra. "What are you doing here?"
Sombra nodded at D.Va.
D.Va looked down and rubbed the back of her neck.
Mercy shook her head and focused on Widow. "You have some nerve showing your face here. The audacity to really come here, in my space with my people--"
"Not here," Widow warned.
"You don't get to dictate where I say what I need to say to you! I haven't seen you in years. Years! And you show up here, on the arm of my colleague--"
"I said not here," Widow said a little louder then looked at D.Va and Sombra who were watching curiously. She then pointed across the hall to a side room with the door cracked open.
Mercy paused, her chest rising and falling rapidly, and looked to the room. She then stormed towards the door and looked back at Widow. "Are you coming?"
Widow swallowed hard and nodded. With careful steps she followed Mercy in the room, the door slamming shut behind them.