"Hot chocolate?"

"Ooh... Please~"

I watch as Lena stretches out over the couch, not quite long enough to reach the far armrest with her feet, but with enough of an arch that I cannot resist staring.

No, seriously. It's like a condition. If Lena stretches, especially when she's wearing her Tracer bottoms, I have to look, otherwise it's very bad for my health – I swear.

With a deep grin (no doubt, although I can't see it) I make my way over to the kitchenette. Let's see, which one is the powder in?

I must have mumbled to myself, because Lena pipes up: "Uh, probably left side, bottom drawer? Got called out when I last went shopping so I kinda threw a bunch in there."

Bottom drawer? Let's see...

"Aha! Thanks, Lena. Let's whip this up in a jiffy. Milk?"

"Yes please, love! Oh, and can you grab the biscuits? Cabinet to your right."

Lena's wish is my command, so I make a show of opening the packet and displaying the first biscuit delicately on a plate, balanced against the packet. I'm glad it opened without grief. Spilled biscuits are no laughing matter.

Waiting as the milk heats up, I turn to watch Lena on the sofa.

It's a dangerous sight. Honestly, professional models probably would find it hard to pose so naturally and innocently and beautifully, yet there Lena is, legs tucked in just right, pushing her knees up, arms draped from the back to the floor, head tilted to face me. Our eyes make and keep contact.

I'm falling. Gravity is pulling the wrong way (or is it the right way?) and in that moment everything is Tracer, everything is Lena, and everything is perfect.

"You're burning the milk."

I don't know what Lena said, but it was beautiful.

"Crap-!"

I'm vaguely aware that Lena is stifling her giggles in the background, however I'm now focused on taking the pan off the hob and seeing if the milk is salvageable.

I sigh. No such luck.

Just as I dump the frankly rather disgusting smelling milk and reach for the carton, a familiar hand rests atop my own.

"Don't worry love, cavalry's here!"

I lean backwards into the half embrace and laugh, "Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?"

We giggle into each other for a moment before attempting the task at hand. Heh, pun.

While it's strange having someone else's hand atop your own as you do something, Lena is incredibly compliant so it feels more like having a sentient glove. Not that I know what a sentient glove feels like – although apparently the one that Lena defended about a year ago was such a glove. That would be weird, being sentient and a glove, or just any clothing, wouldn't it? Though I suppose from the glove's perspective... Ah- don't put too much in! I'm getting distracted again!

"Lee-na! I know how to make a hot chocolate!"

"Tell that to the sink. But if you're so confident, then off~" Lena retracts her hand with a flair, "Come the stabilisers!" repositions it on my hip in a moment before balancing her as she leans in for a quick kiss.

I can't think and can't stop thinking all in the same moment. It's random thoughts, like how Lena's lips taste of balm and caramel, but caramel and chocolate as a compound bar is disgusting, but the average airspeed velocity of a migrating unladen African swallow is twenty four miles per hour, meanwhile Lena's eyes are the softest chocolate brown that sparkle with unadulterated joy and life, just as they did all those years ago, when Lena won the national university 100m sprint with a time just shy of the men's world record (finishing 9.62 seconds with a crowd winning smile). Now there's a tongue in the mix and the anteater can flick its tongue a hundred and sixty times a second a hundred and sixty is the sum of the first eleven primes first eleven referring to classical uni cricket teams primes form the basis of algorithmic cryptography yet now I have to breathe but Lena's still kissing me and it's beginning to burn in my lungs and soon my ribs will start to contract from CO2 build-up but time is stretching out and Lena's eyes are still there so close while the world seems to be getting further away like we're accelerating to the speed of light together and-

The pressure is gone. Breathe. Just breathe. Breathe for a moment and don't think, don't even think about breathing, just breathe.

Okay...

I think I'm okay.

Lena's hand is on mine again, keeping me from spilling or crushing the milk. I slowly begin to focus on the world again. It's been a while since Lena decided to kiss me so passionately and so out of the blue, but that doesn't explain why I'm so disorientated or breathless right now.

"Hey, are you okay, love?"

I've stumbled slightly and Lena's caught me by the shoulders. I'm still trying to catch my breath, but it's like catching a fish while my lungs are still burning slightly.

A connection suddenly lights up in my mind and blazes like wildfire. Oh no.

I'm unfit.

I mean, I was never Lena's level of fit, or heavens help, like Zarya, but I wasn't unfit. Uni and Overwatch had kept me in the gym a lot, either for my own fitness and stress relief or when I worked with people using the gyms – many people like having a training partner it seems.

But I suppose that since the Petras Act and the abolishment of Overwatch, I've not had the luxury of access to such facilities around the clock, and many of those I work with now are academics; the normal civilians (who don't participate in military level fitness training) and omnics (who don't even need fitness training) that I work with now.

"Yeah, just-... just catching my breath."

As I get up from Lena, I can see the worry in her eyes.

"Lena, baby. Do I look fine to you?" I struggle to keep the disappointment from my voice.

"... I don't know. You seemed tired earlier, and now you're out of breath, so I'm a little worried, I suppose."

I want to laugh at this but I can't. Lena is the one rushing off at a moment's notice to protect the innocent, only to come home completely shattered, sometimes not even making it past the couch or even the doorway. She's the one who comes back with cuts and lacerations and bullet wound and burn marks and torn muscles and ligaments and broken bones, yet always smiles when she sees me with that lopsided grin that makes my heart flutter and beat anew after stopping at the sight of her. I still remember how she smiled before breaking down into tears after Mondatta...

I kiss the bridge of her nose.

"I'm fine. Academia keeps me out of the gym is all. I think there's one on the campus, so I might start to go again, so for now hold back a little when kissing, Casanova."

Lena blinks, breathes out through her nose in a way that makes it cutely flare, and rests her forehead against mine as I put down the milk. It's nice. I can feel Lena right up against me and can see her eyes in all their detail and glory. I could stay like this for hours.

Lena wants to go back to the couch though, so breaks off after a little while (not long enough) and releases me. I only just realised that her other arm had been around me this whole time, keeping me close and insurance for my balance.

I sigh. From here, hopefully the hot chocolate will be clean sailing. Hopefully.

I don't burn the milk the second time around at least.

As I heap some of the chocolate powder into two mugs I pour a little of the simmering milk in to start dissolving away the chocolate. The rest goes into a flask so I can shake it. It's my mother's recipe. It's a little therapeutic, I suppose, shaking the hot milk the same way my mother did all those years ago on child winter nights like this. Hot chocolate, woolly jumpers, crackling fires, gingerbread- that's something I forgot, did Lena buy any?

"Honeybun, did you buy any gingerbread?"

Lena looks up towards me in thought, not at me though, more of that slightly distant look of someone querying themselves as they work through their memories.

"Are they not in the drawer the coco prefer was in?"

I check the drawer in question, however it doesn't look like it. Beans, napkins, soup tins and jelly pouches, sure, but no gingerbread. I'll probably have to organise this all later.

"Nope. Unless you want jelly in your hot chocolate~" I tease, watching Lena's face turn from a curious frown to a look of revulsion.

"Ew, no. No, no no no. If they're not were the digestives were then I've got nothing. I don't remember buying them at least. Sorry, love."

"It's alright." I just thought I'd ask. You'd never believe how much food she buys only to then squirrel away. And it's usually random assorted stuff she thinks she'll try out but either goes off or is given away most of the time. "We'll just go without."

I finish off shaking the milk, unscrewing the cap as I decanter it into the two mugs. The thick aroma of chocolate and milk begins to fill the room. Ah, it's a shame that there are no marshmallows either.

Carrying both mugs, I let Lena scoot over slightly as she sits upright, taking her drink from the proffered hand.

"Thanks."

I kiss her cheek in response.

We're nursing the hot chocolates, the divine beverages gulped down with a satisfying sense of warmth.

I shift slightly, careful so that neither of us spill anything.

Lena rests an arm on my stomach, cuddling me close as I lean into her chest. The TV on the wall is off, the lights are dim and the snow is falling outside.

I can't bring myself to worry about anything, it's like I'm melting into Lena's warmth – and the hot chocolate only makes my insides melt all the faster. I can hear the soft rhythm of her breaths and feel them as her shoulders rise and fall slightly. She's here, right here, right now, and I am going to spend as much time as I can by her side. I could say that this is like heaven, that it is pure bliss and joy, but I won't.

I won't because it is so much more than those and it is so tangibly real. This is truly peaceful. It is calm. It is warm and relaxing and home. This is my home. Lena is my home.

After all, home is where the heart is.

A/N

It's a little shorter than my first chapter was, but I mostly just wanted to get a little more fluff out before life started to happen again for me.

So far this was actually the slowest one for me to write, I've been distracted with other things like Chrono Trigger, Christmas, reading and a couple of my other stories, fanfic and not. I think those with be coming soon (TM), though not only am I going to be busy soon with that thing called real life but I also finally bought The Last of Us, so many "productive" hours are going to disappear in the not too distant future (also after I finish Chrono Trigger, which is honestly an amazing game that holds up today - the writing is fantastic).

But yeah. Fluff and a little bit of cooking (barely), plus people are now discussing ship names, so other than canon (woot woot), I currently side with Lemon Tea. Why? It's a sweet and memorable name for an equally sweet ship (think White Rose or Korrasami) and has a little bit of a play on words in there (again, think White Rose) which I adore. And hey, maybe there'll be a chapter featuring that in the future. No promises, but there is potential for some adorably fluffy content right there (read: the good stuff) and I'm thinking along the lines of lovely winter flu. Hm. And maybe an appearance from everyone's favourite Swiss doctor. And a nurse outfit. Maybe. We'll see.