Work Text:
*Beep beep beep beep be-* The alarm clock rang out before Mei practically slapped the snooze button. It wasn't very bright out yet, but she could make out some sunlight through her tired eyes.
Mei sat up in her bed, yawning as she stretched and got up. As she was sliding her feet into a pair of slippers and putting on her glasses, she looked out the window and saw a beautiful sight. The Xi'an suburbs was blanketed with a thick layer of snow, the snow that was still falling slightly obscured the metropolitan area's high towers in the distance.
Mei's eyes sparked at the sight, a smile filled with child-like joy stretching over her face as she threw off her slippers and instead began getting into some more appropriate snowgear. It had been so long since she had seen her hometown in such a beautiful state, and it had also been quite a while since she had seen such perfect snow as well. Not too wet and compacted, yet not too loose and powdery either.
"Snowball, activate." Mei commanded. And with that, the little Omnic on her bedside table sprung to life. Snowball's eyes "opened" as it floated up, squinting it's eyes in joy as it saw it's master.
"Hey Snowball, did you see outside? It's amazing isn't it?" Mei said, Snowball beeping happily in response.
Once she was all bundled up, Mei quickly headed out of her quarters with Snowball following close behind. Once she came out into the commons area, she saw that several of her teammates were already out and about. Reinhardt and Genji were preparing breakfast in the dining area while Lena, Ana and Zenyatta were socialising around the indoor firepit.
"Oh, there's Mei! Good mornin' luv!" Lena called out as she waved at Mei.
"Good morning everyone." Mei said, not making any attempts at hiding how cheerful she was from the others.
"Well, you seem to be in high spirits this morning." Ana said.
"Mhm, I didn't know it was going to snow this much. And it looks amazing!"
"It is a beautiful sight indeed, it reminds me of Nepal." Zenyatta said as he glanced outside.
"So where are the others?" Mei asked.
"I think some of the others already headed out. Too bad for them though, that just means more of Reinhardt's famous pancakes for us."
Meanwhile, Junkrat and Roadhog stood up against a wall, watching the scene play out in front of them. Junkrat knew that Mei liked snow and all, but he noticed that she seemed more excited and joyful than she usually was about it.
"Oi, Roadie, you notice that Snowflake's really stoked? Bit more than usual, kinda weird..." Junkrat said, Roadhog simply grunting and shrugging in response.
"Hm... maybe it's some kind of special snow? Or maybe she's studyin' something? Or maybe-"
"How about you shut up and go ask her yourself?"
"Well, I would but I don't wanna be 'round the bolt-heads."
"Hm, well you're just gonna have to deal with it. The little floating one's basically her pet, follows her everywhere."
"Oh, roight. Hm..."
"Breakfast is ready!" Genji called out from the kitchen, and everyone but the two Junkers headed over to the dining table.
"Well, I'm gonna get some grub. And honestly Jamie, don't get me wrong I hate the scrap-piles as much as you, but we've gotta learn to just live with them and not complain about it."
"Where's all this comin' from?"
"Me not wanting to get fired, that's where. So anyways, just try and keep your trap shut when we're sitting with the Omnics."
"Fine..." Junkrat grumbled before he and Roadhog went to join the others for breakfast.
* * * After breakfast * * *
Breakfast went by with the others having mild conversation about what they planned to do with their day in the winter weather, while the two Junkers talked amongst themselves. Mei seemed anxious, cleaning her dishes quickly before making sure she had everything she need.
"Oi Mei, you ready luv?" Lena said excitedly, already in her own winter-appropriate clothing.
"Yep, let's get out there!" Mei said, her and Lena both hurrying outside.
"Wait, why didn't you ask her?" Roadhog said.
"Hm?"
"You wanted to ask her why she was so excited about the snow, right? So why didn't you?"
"Oh, um, well I.. wanted to see for meself, yeah!"
"I thought you said you weren't gonna go out there no matter wh-"
"Oi, I never said that!"
Roadhog just facepalmed and groaned.
"Well, do what you want. You head out by yourself 'cause I'm not going out." Roadhog said.
"Roight then, I'll cya later cobber-" Junkrat turned and started to walk away before Roadhog grabbed him by the back of his harness.
"Jamie, there's no way in hell you're going out there in that. Get some clothes on."
"Oh, roight. Almost forgot." Junkrat said, heading off to his quarters to change and returning in said clothes within a few minutes
"Roight then, I'm ready!" Junkrat said, posing proudly in his dull-yellow snowjacket and military-print pants, both lightly dusted with soot. He also had a black boot on his foot and an orange glove on his flesh-and-blood hand.
"Now try and stay out of trouble would ya?"
"No worries mate, I'll be on me best behavior!" Junkrat said, giggling before heading off.
Meanwhile, Mei and Lena were getting their first taste of the snowy weather.
"Wow..." Mei said, breathless from the sight of the snow gently falling from the sky and onto the streets and pagodas around them.
"Hey Mei, I'm gonna see if I can find some of the others. Ya coming luv?"
"Oh um, yeah. Go on without me, I'll catch up with you later."
"Okay then, cheerio!" Lena said before zipping off in a blue blur.
Mei waved in he direction of the fading blue trail before returning her attention to the beauty of the snow all around her. Her eyes hadn't lied to her either, the condition of the snow was near sublime. It was soft and powdery, yet it compacted very well when Mei took a handful and squeezed it into a snowball. Snowball whirred happily as it played in the snow, blowing it up into small clouds of the white powder.
"Oi, whatcha doin' Snowflake?"
Mei turned around and saw Junkrat, standing there in his filty clothes.
"Oh, hello Jamison." she said, not too happy to see the Junker at all. Snowball didn't seem very happy with Junkrat's arrival either, it's LED eyes pointing inwards in an angry gesture.
"So... whatcha doin'?" he asked again.
"I'm just enjoying the beautiful weather. Something you wouldn't understand."
"Well that's cold."
Admittedly, that was kinda rude. But this was Junkrat, and from what Mei had seen he didn't care at all for natural beauty, rather he took pleasure in destroying it. Honestly, he was the last person Mei wanted to see out here.
"But anyways, I was curious about what all the hype about this snow 'n junk. So, seeing that you seemed ta love it the most, I wanted to find out from you."
'What? No way, this is some kind of trick, isn't it? Though,' Mei thought, 'he seems like he's telling the truth...'
"You know what? Sure, you can tag along with me today." she decided, mostly because she was in too good of a mood to try and get into an argument with Junkrat over this.
"Ya mean it? Cheers mate!" Junkrat said, a grin on his face as the two of them stood there in silence for a few minutes.
"So... what do I do first?" Junkrat asked.
Mei stayed silent as she let herself fall flat onto her back in the snow. Junkrat observed curiously for a minute or two as she swept her limbs back and forth in the snow. She then got up, careful not too step on the impression she made in the snow. Meanwhile, Snowball seemed to be trying to imitate Mei, as it had placed itself in the snow and spun around a few times before floating back up to Mei's side.
"Er, what's that supposed ta be?"
"It's called a snow angel. I used to love making these when I was little."
"Oh, what's the point?"
"It's just fun to do. All you have to do if find a good place in the snow, lay down, and then do what I did. Go ahead and try it."
"Er, okay then." Junkrat said, dropping down into the snow just like Mei had, and repeating the sweeping motion with his limbs before getting up and looking at his creation.
Junkrat's angel was much thinner and taller than Mei's (understandably), but overall it looked pretty much the same.
"Yeah I dunno, doesn't seem like me cup of tea." Junkrat said, obviously bored by this.
"I thought so." Mei huffed. Of course he wouldn't like such a relaxed activity, what was she thinking?
"So that's all ya folks do in the snow?" Junkrat said, crossing his arms.
"What? Absolutely not, there's so much more to do."
"Oh thank god, I was gonna be spewin' if I came out here just for that. Roight, what's next then?"
"We should.... go to the park! I'm sure there's plently of things to do there." Mei decided, Snowball beeping happily in response.
"Well, if ya say so." Junkrat shrugged. He wasn't quite sure about all this snow, it seemed to be pretty boring. Maybe that's why people in the Outback don't really bother talking about snow, it just wasn't worth the talk. Still, Junkrat was curious if there really was more to all this snow, and if it really lived up to what Mei was talking about.
Also, there was something about the fact that Mei didn't just yell at him and go away, that she's actually trying to be nice to him, that made Junkrat feel... warm, not the usual kind though, a more personal warmt deeper inside him. He either had no clue what it was, or maybe it was that he just didn't want to admit to himself what it was.
* * * Around half an hour later * * *
"Crikey, there's people everywhere!" Junkrat exclaimed, looking out at all the people enjoying the winter weather. Children were running around and playing, and some adults joined in on the fun while others just walked around, enjoying the beauty of the snow.
"See? A lot of people like the snow, and there's all kinds of things they do in it. I mean, you've gotta like something out here."
"Um, Snowflake, what the bloody hell is this..."
When Mei looked up, she saw what looked like around thirty snow angels all in close proximity to eachother, all seemingly made by the same person as well. The culprit popped up out of the snow as they finished making their 31st one, and is was none other than Lena Oxton, wearing an orange jacket and snowpants that matched her jumpsuit's pattern.
"Hiya luvs!" Lena called out once she saw her two teammates, blinking over to them in a blue flash that startled Junkrat into stumbling back at bit.
"Oi, where's Roadhog? I thought you two were always around each other." Lena asked. Truthfully, she was kinda glad Roadhog wasn't around. He was a pretty creepy and intimidating guy, after all.
"Bah, he didn't wanna go out in the cold, has no love for it."
"Yeah, it's brass monkeys out here for sure." Lena proclaimed, neither Junkrat nor Mei bothering to ask what that even meant.
"Um, yeah. Did you make all these?"
"Mhm! Though, I think Satya's doing a better job than me." she said, pointing over towards the Indian woman in a sea-green snowcoat with fancy-looking fur linings.
Her movements were very precise, as expected of Satya. Every single movement she made was calculated, every fiber of her being working together to make the snow angel as perfect as possible. When she got up, she leaned down and began tracing designs of swirls and snowflakes into the snow angel. Once she was done, she stood up straight and smiled down at her creation, the other three approaching to take a look.
The finished snow angel looked beautiful, it's body covered with many swirls, stars, and snowflakes covering it's "dress", and a gorgeous face and hair were delicately traced out. It was amazing that she was able to do all this in just a minute or so, yet fully expected of Satya Vaswani.
"Wow Satya, it's.. amazing. I've never seen someone put so much effort into a snow angel before." Mei said.
"Well, I always strive for perfection, and I'll make no exceptions for what I do for mere enjoyment."
'Bloody hell, she can't even stop being Little Miss Perfect in her downtime.' Junkrat thought.
Suddenly, the four heroes heard someone yelling from a little ways away. A little ways down the sidewalk, Lucio was skating full-speed over the icy path, and seemed to be out of control. This suspicion was further evidenced by the fact that Jesse and Aleksandra were both chasing after him, apparently trying to catch him.
"Oi! I gotcha luv!" Lena shouted before zipping over towards Lucio. Unfortunately she hadn't quite thought her plan through, and at the moment she made impact with her friend both of the went flying and rolling over the snow. Meanwhile, a couple hundred feet away, Winston and Angela were busy working on a pretty impressive snowman.
"Hm, you think we should put a scarf on?" Winston was suggesting before both his attention and the doctor's were averted by the approaching sound of two yelling voices. Looking up, they immediately recognized the two people hurtling straight towards them, a familiar blue blur following close behind them.
They both yelled out before throwing themselves out of the area of impact. Unfortunately for them, that area of impact just so happened to be their snowman, which was completely obliterated by the two bodies hurtling towards it. Luckily, the snowman had stopped Lena and Lucio from continuing their chaotic rolling. So there they sat, sprawled out with small piles of snowman all around and on them.
"Ughh, bloody hell." Lena grumbled as she got up.
"Are you okay??" Angela said as she rushed over to them, soon followed by the others who had witnessed the event. Besides Junkrat, that is, who had decided to just watch the whole event play out from a distance.
"Yeah, I'm good." Lucio said and he started getting up.
"Here, lemme give ya a hand." Jesse said as he reached out towards them. Lucio was about to take up his offer, before Lena reached out much quicker then him and let Jesse help her up.
"Cheers luv, not sure if I could have gotten up myself. Snow was.. pretty deep, and all."
"Nah, it ain't a problem darlin'. And also, the snows not that deep, pretty sure you would've lived." Jesse said, clapping his hand against Lena's back as he laughed, and also not taking notice of the blush and silly wavy-mouthed smile creeping up on the Brit's face.
Lucio was starting to get up on his own, but Aleksandra hand already gone and picked him up. Literally, she was holding him like a burly lumberjack holds a log.
"Thanks Zarya." he said simply as she placed him down the ground.
"It is no trouble, DJ." she said, flexing mentally.
"Well alrighty then, I'm gonna get back to... whatever it was, I was doing."
"Reinhardt was challenging me to an arm-wrestling match on a block of ice, and you were offering to be referee for us. You best hurry up, I do not wish to keep the challenge waiting."
"Oh, right. Better get back to that then." Jesse said, taking his hat and shaking some snow off before following off after Zarya. Meanwhile, Lena seemed to be glaring at Aleksandra, which Lucio and Angela both took quick notice of and couldn't help but start giggling as they came up to her.
"Hey Lena, you okay over there? You look pretty ticked," Lucio said, giggling between his words.
"Um, no I'm fine. Don't know what you're talking about, luv" Lena said, suddenly changing the expression on her face.
"Well if I didn't know any better Lena," Angela said, "I'd say you were a bit... jealous."
"What?! What would I be jealous of." Lena exclaimed, only succeeding in making the grins on Lucio and Angela's faces even bigger.
"Sorry if I'm wrong Lena, but," Satya suddenly came up and said, "it seems to me that you've been enamored by McCree."
"Oi! I have not!" Lena pouted, causing Lucio to start laughing harder while Angela and Satya giggled. Meanwhile, Winston chuckled and shook his head before getting back to work on the snowman.
"Hey Winston, you want me to help out?" Mei asked.
"Oh, uh, sure. I'll roll up the bottom part of the body, can you get started on the top part?" Winston said, already starting to roll up a large sphere of snow.
"Sounds like a plan!" Mei said happily, beginning work on her sphere of snow.
Meanwhile, Junkrat was still standing by the sidewalk, watching everything play out. Suddenly, a familiar shadow began started looming over him.
"Roadie? What're ya doing out here? I thought ya hated the icy stuff."
"I do. Hot cocoa back at base is garbage though." Roadhog said. Besides his usual getup, he was wearing a grey sweater and skull cap.
"Oh, roight then, but why're ya out here? Why'd ya no just go back inside?"
"Eh, saw ya out here, thought I might as well check up on you 'n Mei."
"Check up on us?... waiit, why me and Snowflake?"
"Well, ya know," Roadhog said, hiding a smug expression behind his mask, "I was pretty sure you were hangin' out."
"Well yeah, ya just said it a bit weird.. nevermind, I need ta sit down somewhere anyways." Junkrat said, him and Roadhog taking a seat down at a nearby bench.
"So, how's the snow been for you?" Roadhog asked as he lifted up his mask a little in order to sip on his warm drink.
"Meh, it's okay-ish. Still not quite sure what the big hoopla 'bout it is. It's not really fun or anything."
"Then why're you still hangin' out here?"
Junkrat simply shrugged and then starting staring off. He was watching Mei, Winston, and Angela as they created a fairly large snowman, her little drone spraying down blue-ish particles to hold the large snowballs together. He remembered how that same blue-ish stuff froze a large group of Talon soldiers on a mission a few weeks back, allowing them to be taken out easily by the others. Oh boy, that woman may have acted like she was some kind of cuddly koala or something most of the time, but she could be a force to be reckoned with when she wanted...
"See something you like, mate?" Roadhog said, letting out a quick snorting laugh.
"Huh? Whatcha talkin' about?"
Oh, nothing, just seemed like you were staring off. Well, staring at someone rather. Basically, I think I know why you're staying out here."
Junkrat simply crooked up an eyebrow, mostly confused about what his pal was saying. But, a deep part of Jamison was also a bit nervous about... something.
"You like her. Mei, you're into her aren't you?"
"What, Snowflake? Pssh, nah. I mean, she's pretty cool and all. Heheh, cool. But anyways," Junkrat continued after noticing Roadhog grumbling angrily at his lame pun, "she's a pretty cool girl. Like, I'm pretty sure she hates me but she's still willing ta be around me, so that's nice. But she's no angel either. I mean, she can be vicious when she wants ta. It's so weird, but it's amazing. And, and you know how she-.... well struth Roadie, I think you're roight."
"Knew it."
"Oh bloody hell, what am I gonna do about this mate? Like I said, pretty sure she hates my guts 'n all."
Roadhog simply grunted while Junkrat mumbled and worried to himself. Setting down his cup of cocoa, Roadhog pulled out his phone and looked through the team contacts until he found the Chinese woman.
| MAKO: Oi, can you get Jamie to do something with you? He needs to stop sitting around and have a bit of fun. |
He waited for a few moments, watching from a distance as she pulled out her phone and looked at the text. A few moments later, she texted back a reply.
| MEI-LING: Ok ^_^ |
'Well, that was pretty easy. Well, I guess she doesn't really hate him.'
"Hey Junkrat! You wanna try out making a snowman?" Mei called out from a little ways away.
"Hm? Oh uh, sure." Junkrat called back.
Junkrat headed off, not hearing Roadhog say "Go get her, mate" as he went over to find out what making one of these snowmen was like. Well, that wasn't really the reason, but whatever.
"So, where do we start?"
"Well, first we have to make two big balls of snow for the body, and then a smaller one for the head. And after that, we decorate it. Come on, you start making one."
And so they both rolled by two large snowballs, Mei carefully placing her snowball on top of Junkrat's and letting Snowball seal it down. After that, Mei made a slightly smaller snowball, albeit still a big one, and placed it on top.
"Hey, you wanna decorate it?" Mei asked the junker.
"Me? Well uh, sure mate. Lemme guess, no bombs?"
"Yes, no bombs. Please." Mei said, her mood getting very very slightly worse. But, Junkrat was paying quite an amount of attention to her.
"Well, y-yeah of course."
'Jamison you dipstick.' he thought to himself.
"Roight then, let's see..." Junkrat went into a deep train of thought, spacing out for a minute.
But, his moment of deep thought was short-lived, as a snowball suddenly came flying from some unseen place and hit him right in the face.
"Oi, what the- are snowflakes supposed ta be this big?"
"Um, no actually. I think someone threw a snowball at you."
"Well, I'm gonna go find out who did that. Give 'em a piece of me mind." Junkrat said, beggining to march off in the direction the snowball came from.
Mei just watched as he headed off through the treeline. Only after he had already gone, did the obvious come to mind.
"Wǒde tiān na, he's gonna blow something up isn't he??" Mei exclaimed to herself, Snowball beeping in surprise.
"Um, Snowball stay here. I don't want anything happening to you." Mei said before running off in the direction Junkrat went.
* * * Meanwhile * * *
"We're taking heavy fire, everyone down!" Soldier: 76 barked out to his two companions on the battlefield, Torbjörn Lindholm and Hana Song.
"Torb, how's the turret?" Jack asked, only of the turret to be knocked over into the snow by enemy fire.
"Erm, not so good actually."
"Ugh," Hana groaned, "this is so unfair."
All three of them poked their heads out a little to observe the enemy team while they reloaded their arsenal. Fareeha was making snowballs by the dozens and fitting them into the rocket launchers in her power armor, Reaper was stuffing snowballs into his shotguns, and both of them were loading up Bastion with copious amounts of snow.
"Torb, get that turret up and-"
"OI! What're ya doin'??" Junkrat exclaimed as he came out of the treeline behind them.
"Junkrat, I'd get down if I were you..." Hana said, noticing that the opposing team was ready to start firing again.
"What's that suppose ta mean-" Junkrat was saying before he was caught of guard by dozens of snowballs coming right in their direction, many of them pelting the junker as he was knocked to the ground. The other team ceased fire when they saw that they had taken down a bystander, Bastion beeping an apology.
When Junkrat got up, he had a devilish grin on his face, making the three in front of him slightly nervous, more confused though.
"Alroight then, it's on." Junkrat exclaimed as he got behind the wall of snow in front of him.
And with that, the fight was back on, the enemy team firing away as the home team readied themselves to fight back. Now with a fourth member, they stood a chance.
"Need help?" a cheery voice suddenly came up from beside them. And there was Mei, laying belly-down like the other four, with Snowball floating close to her head.
"Oi, good ta cya Snowflake!" Junkrat said, the nickname making Hana smirk and giggle softly.
"Alright team," Jack said gruffly, "let's show these people exactly who they're messing with."
As soon as the enemy fire slowed down, the home team opened fire. Mei blasted snowballs out of her Endothermic Blaster, Torbjörn used his turret to do the same, and the other three just threw snowballs as fast as they could. Soon, both teams were firing at eachother at once, snowballs flying in each and every direction. Just then, a blue blur made it's way across the battlefield before making it's way next to Mei, obviously Lena Oxton was the identity of the blur.
"Hiya luvs." Lena said as she starting making and throwing snowballs herself.
"Alright, we're totally wreck these guys now!" Hana exclaimed.
But, their luck was cut short, as a certain sharpshooter joined the ranks of the enemy team.
"Um, I think I'm gonna go to the other team 'cause... it's more fair! Yeah, cheerio!" Lena said before blinking over to the enemy team, stationing herself next to Jesse, who greeted her cheerful hi with a simple nod and smile as he focused on his targets.
"Traitor!!" Junkrat and Hana both yelled out at her before ducking back behind the snow wall.
"Well, it is even now I guess." Mei said.
"She's still a traitor, ditching us for a some dirty cowboy." Hana pouted.
"Oh great, they got Lucio with them now too." 76 said.
"Aw what?" Hana said. Sure enough, Lucio was up on the opposite team as well.
"Dude! C'mon, what're you doing?!" Hana called out, Lucio responding with a shrug and a snowball throw straight towards Hana's face. It almost hit her, but not before a green flash ran in front of her face and the snowball was stopped dead in it's tracks.
"Need some assistance?" Genji said, sheathing his kantana before ducking behind the snow fort.
"Well, looks like it's six-on-six now. Now we're totally gonna wreck them." Hana said once again, ready for the battle to recommence.
And recommence it did. With that, snowballs came flying over the battlefield faster and even more numerous than before. Lena was throwing them at lightning speed, Genji alternated between throwing snowballs and blocking them with his ōdachi, McCree utilized his sharp eye and lightning reflexes to fire snow at his opponents, and Lucio provided the music while they fought on.
* * * Two hours later * * *
Mei was sitting up on a large hill overlooking the snowball fight still going on, the snow still falling helping to provide a constant supply for them. At this point pretty much everyone had joined in on the snowball fight. Except for Widowmaker and Roadhog, who just sat on a bench and observed the fight from a distance. But Mei wasn't concerning herself with that right now. Right now, she was only paying attention to the beauty of the landscape around her. Treetops frosted with snow, her teammates and all enjoying themselves, the cityscape dusted with white, the wonder of it all was enchanting to Mei. It also reminded her of better times, times when she would spend the snowy days in her childhood with friends and family. All those years ago...
"Oi, Snowflake!"
Mei turned around and saw Junkrat approaching her.
"Oh, hi Junkrat." she said, definately a nicer hello than the one she gave him earlier that day.
"So, whatcha doin'?" he asked as he sat down a few feet to her side.
"Nothing much, just... watching." Mei said, exhaling dreamily.
"Watching for what?"
"Not for something, just watching.. well, all of it."
Junkrat was about to say something, but then he watched in initial confusion as Mei reached her gloved hand up to her hairpin and pulled it out. He then stared at Mei's hair fell out, flowing down to shoulder-height. At that moment, he started to get what Mei meant by "just watching". It was strange, Jamison's head started filling up with different thoughts. He thought it looked strange, seeing her hair untied like that. But at the same time, he thought it looked nice too, pretty even.
"Junkrat? You alright?" Mei said, noticing Junkrat apparently staring off, and in her direction at that.
"W-what?" Junkrat said, shaking his head as he snapped out of his trance.
"Oh, nevermind." Mei said, shrugging it off as she and him both stared off at the landscape in silence for a couple minutes.
"Hū rú yīyè chūnfēng lái, qiān shù wàn shù líhuā kāi." Mei said silently to herself, but not silent enough for Junkrat to not pick up on it.
"Whazat Snowflake?"
"Hm? Oh, nothing. Just an excerpt from an old poem."
"Um, could ya say it in English?"
"As if the vernal breeze had come back overnight, adorning thousands of pear trees with blossoms white."
"Oh, okay... wait, ya mean the snow?"
Mei was surprised that Junkrat actually picked up on that so fast.
"Hey, I'm smarter than ya think Snowflake." he chuckled, obviously noticing Mei's expression
"Yeah, guess so. Well, now that I think of it, I guess you would have to be pretty smart to engineer like you do."
"I guess you're right. By the way, I've been meaning ta ask ya somethin'." he said, Mei turning to look at him with a curious look on her face.
"I've been wonderin', why're ya so excited 'bout the snow today? I've never seen ya get this happy 'bout it before, so why here?"
"Well, I guess... I guess it just brings back memories. Good memories, that is."
"Like what?"
Mei was honestly surprised Junkrat even really cared. He hadn't really acted like this around anyone, including her, before. Come to think of it, he'd been acting like this all day. Maybe he wasn't as bad as everyone thought he was.
"Well... memories of when I was still a kid, playing around in the snow with my friends, spending the holidays with my family... better times, really."
"Yeah, I know that feel. Luckily the whole 'nuclear wasteland' thing didn't happen when I was still a lil' ankle biter. Happened when I was a bigger one, ya know?" Junkrat said, laughing a little at his last remark.
"Junkrat, let me ask you something."
"Huh? Whatcha need Snowflake?"
"Well, actually nevermind I'm not asking you something. I just wanted to say... I'm proud of you, Jamison."
"What?" Junkrat said, a faint blush partially hidden by some of the soot and snow dusted on his face.
"Well, you've really come a long way in the past few months since you and Roadhog joined. I mean, you're still dirty, and irresponsible, and still sort of a jerk sometimes, but you're definitely not the complete bully you used to be. To be completely honest, you're not as bad of a guy as I thought you were, Jamison." Mei said, denying to herself that she was blushing even the slightest bit.
"Well, uh, t-thanks for that Sno- I mean, Mei. Hell, I don't think even Mako's said something that nice ta me."
After that, Junkrat began staring again. At this point, there was really no denying it, Jamison Fawkes was beginning to fall head-over-heels for Mei-Ling Zhou. And being the risk-taker he was, he decided to go ahead and pop the question. Well, he wasn't as brave in these situations as in almsot any other one, so he ddid it in a more subtle way.
"Oi, Mei. Ya think we can do this for a while longer?"
"Do what?" Mei said.
"Well, ya know, hang out in the snow 'n stuff? I'll admit, ya were kinda right about the snow being fun 'n all. These snowball fights are ripper, to be honest. And ya know, you're pretty fun ta be 'round."
"Oh. Sure, I'd be okay with that. You mean for the rest of the day?"
"Well, yeah kinda. But I also meant just... whenever, ya know?" Junkrat said, trying to hide the blush creeping up on his face. He was not used to this kinda stuff, and it made it a thousand times harder when he looked at Mei as snowflakes gently dusted her face and flowing brown hair.
"You know what? Yes, I'd really like that too." Mei said, a slight blush creeping up on her face as well.
"Really? Ah, cheers mate!" he said, scooting over a foot or so closer to Mei.
"So, I've been wondering something. Exactly how did you and the other Junkers survive in such a hostile environment? What was life like? Sorry, if I'm asking to much or something, just something I've been curious about."
"No worries, wouldn't mind spreading me knowledge on wasteland survival ta someone. Well ya see, when everything first went ta the dumps..."
The two of them spent the next couple hours or so on that hill, talking and discussing random interests and topics, completely oblivious to the rest of the world around them. For the next week they were in Xi'an, Junkrat and Mei repeated this little tradition. Alternating between different snow-based activities and just sitting and chatting with each other.
* * * Christmas Morning * * *
"Oi, Snowflake, I forgot ta place me gift under the tree earlier, but I got ya a gift" Junkrat called out as he approached Mei in a doorway, a cardboard box in his hand.
"Really? Aw Jamie, you didn't need to give me anything." she said as she took the box and began opening it up.
Reaching into the box, she pulled out a small model snowflake made out of various scrap metals. Some pieces were rusted orange, while others still looked new and shiny.
"Yeah, made it meself actually. Just thought ya deserved something nice, not just some souvenir or something."
"Jamie, it's... it's amazing. I mean, just.. thank you, so much!" Mei said, possibly even more happy than she was out in the Xi'an snow.
"No worries, least I could do for ya."
Just then, Roadhog walked by, grunting a "Happy Christmas" at the two as he passed. However, they didn't notice that he had quickly hung up a mistletoe right above them. Just as Roadhog went around a corner, Lena came out from the same direction. She stopped near the two of the and giggled a little to get their attention.
"Hey uh, luvs. Look above you." she said in a giggling fit.
Mei and Jamie both looked up, and both of the started blushing beet-red when they saw the mistletoe hanging above their heads.
"I'll give you two some privacy." Lena said as she dissappeared back around the corner of the hall.
"Well, uh... I guess, we've gotta.."
"Yeah, guess so..."
Slowly, Jamie moved his hands to Mei's sides as she placed her hands on his shoulders. They stood like that for a few moments, staring into each other's eyes for a few moments. And then, Mei tilted her head to the side and leaned up, gently pressing her lips against Jamie's.
To Jamie, Mei's lips tasted of peppermint and sugar, likely from the assorted candies that many of the heroes had whiel they opened their presents and ate their breakfast that morning. It was refreshing to Jamie, sweet to his senses of taste and of touch. To Mei, Jamie's lips tasted bitter, unsurprisingly like the soot and grime that constantly covered Jamie's face. Yet, she didn't mind the taste at all, it was more enjoyable to her than she had thought it would just a second ago.
The kiss seemed to last forever, but had only been a few seconds by the time their lips broke away from each other, both of their hearts running as fast as Lena on the battlefield.
"Well.." Mei started saying, giggling a little bit.
"Hang on a sec. Lemme try something..." Jamie said. With that, he took Mei's hairpin and pulled it out, letting her hair fall out like it did that day on the hill.
"Hey, what are you-" Mei began to say, but was cut off when Jamie went back in for a second kiss. This time placing one hand on the side of her face.
As they kissed, Mei wrapped her arms up around Jamie's neck, standing up on her tiptoes to reach him.
Meanwhile, just around the corner, Roadhog and Lena were standing up against the wall and peeking over at them, silently fist-bumping as they watched their plan unfold successfully. They then snuck away just as the two finished up their second kiss, lasting much longer than the first, and broke out of each other's embrace.
"So, ya wanna head outside Snowflake?"
"Yeah, I'd love to." Mei said with a smile.
And so they walked off, hand-in-hand as they went to enjoy their last day in the holiday weather together.