…
Uh?
…
Mmm…
…
Oh?
The world is a series of disjointed blurs, but the light pressure against my lips is perfectly in focus.
"Morning, love."
Hmm, that's a nice sound to wake to.
I follow the warmth slightly, tilting upward before I can blink away the sleep to see the grinning face of my love hovering just over me.
"Lee~naa~"
Ah, was that too needy?
…
…
"Eeeee!"
I spend the first minute trying to paw Lena away from my face, however eventually resign myself to the little kisses covering every inch of my face.
Urgh, how does she have so much energy?
This is nice. Creepy? Maybe a little? I don't know; I think I threw common sense out a long time ago. Was it during the Omnic Uprising? Or maybe before, when I fell in love with my coach?
Somewhere between the two, perhaps.
But this is nice.
It's criminally rare that I'm allowed to just… y'know… sit here.
The rise and fall of her breathing is mesmerising.
Such a steady pace. It's kinda slow, actually. I think that's just sleep though. She'd probably know how fast you breath when you sleep. Heh, she's good with stuff like that.
The curtains are letting through that tiny sliver of light that would usually bother you at night, but right now?
Oh boy.
Can anyone be more beautiful? Maybe I'll have a chance to talk with Zenny about stuff like this. That'll be nice. We haven't talked much since Mondatta… I know he doesn't blame me, I just think I remind him how the two left on kinda bad terms. He didn't get to say goodbye, did he?
…
That was a close one, wasn't it?
…
I made Emily cry that night, didn't I?
…
…
I know she says otherwise, but she's really out of my league. She's far too good for me. Not that I'm ever giving back what we've fought for. We make our own lemons, Life, suck it if it's too sweet for you.
But seriously? Holding me close when all I want to do is hide from it all and cry? Taking care of my battered remains when I collapse at the door? Being there for me when I can only scream and shout at the world, at how powerless I am and how cruel reality is?
Throwing away her biggest chance for fame and fortune and joining Overwatch to support me even after I tried to break up with her, having never considered her feelings on the matter until she showed up at Gibraltar a week later?
I must'a been a saint in a previous life to have deserved her.
…
I think I'd die for her. I mean, keeping people safe and inspiring good is why I fight.
I just don't think I'd still be human at the end of it all. Not without her.
I wouldn't be who I am today without her, not in any way. I probably wouldn't have passed finals, or have taken the world record (still mine, by the way, and it'll take a while to dethrone me yet mwah ha ha).
And after the accident? I think she's the only reason I'm still same, and only half of that was her psychiatry.
Now I'm out of the lab cum psych ward, here, with her once more.
Home.
I want to feel her right now, beside me. My hand on her skin. Her cheek looks so smooth. While the freckles don't feel any different, I like to imagine little stories for our future as I trace them.
Sometimes I catch a glimpse of my finger just a moment ago, and it's a reassuring illusion that maybe a part of me will always be with her. What was it? Chrono-synesthesia? Something like that. Something about how my senses adapted to the whole time thing. Where I sometimes feel a part of my body as if it was in the past, and that causes a momentary slip in my focus, meaning that a tiny bit does begin to slip back before I bring it under control. Well, at least it's unique. "Oxton's Syndrome", I think Athena jokingly called it.
…
Her cheek is smooth. I already knew that, but I had to remind myself… Oops. She's waking up.
…
I push up and lean over her.
…
She's so beautiful.
I begin to gently kiss her.
…
Ah, here she comes.
It's only a moment before she kisses back. I know, I counted.
I try to pull back, but she follows for a little bit before blinking into awareness.
"Morning, love."
Do you know how much I mean it when I say that to you? Do I convey every ounce of my truth to you?
She turns her head towards my voice slightly.
Ah, there are those wonderful eyes. I like watching those tiny movements in them. You could probably explain it all, right? Ah, now you're beginning to focus on me.
This is why I wake up, I think. Little moments like this, when all that matters is her eyes on me, demanding nothing of me, of Tracer, instead just hoping to see a little bit more of me, Lena.
It's enthralling.
"Lee~naa~"
…
Just how cute can she get?
I think I just screamed a little bit at her cuteness.
Lena finally relents, leaving me wasted from her assault. Such a cunning general. She knows I have no energy in the mornings, and I don't often expect to see her anyway. Stealth and terrain are on her side. Sun Tzu would be ashamed of me.
Honestly, how could she expect me to function without coffee?
I shouldn't have tempted fate by asking for a kiss. What should I have done though? Consult Clausewitz? Remember that Lena is the terrible trinity realised? Throw the teachings of Nash out the window because Lens will just give give give and take take take as she pleases?
Uh, my mind is like the fog of war, I'm nowhere near alert enough for this.
Lena, on the other hand, my honey, love, sweetness, and angel, all these lovely positive images rolled into one, is bouncing around in front of the coffee machine, taking her sweet time.
…
Okay, it's not a bad thing really.
After all, it is a wonderful view right before my eyes as I look up from the table at the miles upon miles of open leg and gentle skin and very tight shorts.
Just, one just cannot compose sonnets without caffeine, no? And my thoughts cannot stay far from imagining being back in bed, preferably with Lena's smaller frame held as close as possible. Drifting off back to sleep…
"Up and at em' luv."
"Hu-?" My mouth feels weird. Was I sleeping?
"I think this'll fix you right up. Now, watch the stove while I get showered."
Ah~
Coffee~
Sweet methylxanthine psychoactives~
How I've missed you in these far too long hours since yesterday morning.
Oh, and I should probably keep an eye on the stove too.
But more importantly...
Cerebellum, do your job in handing me my lifeblood! Parietal gyrus, keep me from spilling this precious liquid! And pons... keep the sweet stuff flowing!
Ah, I love how the brain can name itself. Perhaps a true sign of self-identification? Hm. Yes. That's something to talk about with Winston and Doctor Ziegler later. Zenyatta too, since it's a little philosophical.
… But anyway, too much musing when I should be watching the stove. I suppose it's not like a pot, so it should be fine. That was a good snippet of Next Generation.
Looks fine so far.
…
…
…
I want to kiss Lena…
…
…
…
Bad thoughts…
…
…
…
Well, last time we shared a shower didn't go that badly, did it?
…
Hm.
Then again, it'll be better seeing Lena with fuzzy hair. That's always a lot of fun.
…
...
I wish I hadn't left all my plushies in the bedroom…
Then again… Lena is 35% more fluffy than her plushie is…
…
Operation Snugglefest is a go.
?
I'm confused.
I was getting dressed when all of a sudden a wild Emily suddenly latches on to me.
Don't get me wrong. It's most definitely a nice feeling.
And she's just so darned adorable right now~
But didn't I ask her about something?
"Emily, love, did you turn the stove off?"
…
…
Don't look at me with such cute, confused eyes.
I get worried, you know?
A/N
Sorry for the delay, and I know I did suggest we would get to see a nurse outfit, but that'll have to wait a little bit longer (though I do have it written, I just want to write more of that chapter and edit it done more).
Otherwise, this is going well (enough for now at least). I do have ideas for some extended arcs, especially since I feel much more confident in my version of the Overwatch universe (woot-woot Uprising is fun, and it's definitely coming up again) and am probably going to do my version of the accident, however it'll probably focus a lot more on the recovery side as I still haven't decided upon how Tracer's displacement works in this (soft sci-fi though, hard sci-fi makes this difficult because general relativity is horrible and doesn't care about your time frames).
In other news (not really new though), Emily finally got into the characters list! Now you can filter to just get the sweet Lemon Tea (btw, I've decided that's my favourite name for the ship) if you want. Also, please use it when you want to write your own because it's the only way I'll find it!
Finally, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to comment, no matter how small, because it wasn't until I started getting them that I realised how nice they were to have. That other people out there can just like the stuff I write? That's kinda crazy but nice. Thanks. I won't say it necessarily makes chapters come out faster, but it might. Try and find out. A little science homework perhaps. I do try to reply to all of them, but sometimes I really don't know what to say other than thanks. So, thanks again.
2nd A/N
I removed what was previously Chapter 2, "Christmas Adventure". Considering that the focus of Downtime seems to have become almost entirely Emily & Tracer goodness, and that an experimental piece like that was disjointed and difficult to begin with, I think that it was for the best. It's not gone permanently, if for whatever reason people want to read it then I've put it up on its own. I advise against it though. It was bad. I just don't want to delete something like that because it serves as a record for how bad I can write. Helps lift my mood when I write something particularly well.