Junkrat was lounging under the table in the conference room, smirking as Satya gave her weekly report for Vishkar, doing his best not to give away his position and biting back giggles.
Not that Satya didn't know he was here. Oh, no, she knew exactly where he was. They were holding hands under the table without the dumbass Talon fucker knowing a damn thing. He bit back another giggle as the cunt on the other end asked, "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you about this, apparently that thief is going to have a new music video coming out soon, and it will feature Miss Song as well as… the child." Rat stiffened and he felt her hand squeeze at his, as if silently telling him that 'I've got this, Jamie.'
"Yes, Molly made several sculptures for him on commission." She informed him.
"Commission?" He snorted, "And what exactly did she ask for in return?"
"A chance to have him help her advocate for equal rights for Junkers." She replied, "She feels that Junkers have the right to education and to be able to apply for legal and steady jobs without being judged or labeled as criminals and believes that if they can have access to that, there is a chance that the crime rate in Australia can go down and everyone can be friends."
Junkrat smiled warmly at that, it was unlikely that those simple things could change over twenty years of issues between Junkers, the Australian government (fucking bastards) and the general Australian public, but the fact that she wanted to make everyone friends was sweet enough to put a smile on both his and Satya's faces.
"How naïve." He scoffed.
Rat crawled forward and glanced up at her with his head on the knees of her slacks, his expression one of defensiveness and rage at the comment.
He was known for blowing plenty of things up and wrecking shite, but even he would never destroy a child's dream!
Satya lowered her metal hand into her lap and released his flesh hand with hers before she began to gently stroke his face in an effort to calm him as she said, "Perhaps, but there could be potential to better the world in some of those Junkers," She gently threaded her fingers in his hair and began stroking his head the way he liked as she went onto say that, "And the idea of providing education and a chance for a better life is something we at Vishkar have been doing for years, it certainly worked for me and many others. If we can do that, surely Molly can start to do something similar for Junkers."
Junkrat smiled at her, pleased, 'Yeah Luv! Go fer th' jugular!' he thought, proud at his secret girlfriend for basically making her boss look like he didn't believe in his own overcontrolling company's morals.
"T-that's…!" He paused, "Not actually a bad idea. If she has any other work, send pictures and I can see if I can convince the board to extend an offer to go to one of our universities when she's older…"
"Didn't you already do that?" She asked. Junkrat barely managed to contain the panic on his face.
Shite, that was right. Molly told her that the bloody suit had offered her a spot at one of those fancy schools.
"Did I?" he asked nervously.
Ugh, as much as he wanted to let him hang himself here, he had to step in. Junkrat gently poked at her leg and she glanced down at him, watching as he mouthed, 'Th' bloke was three sheets ta th' wind, Luv, doubt 'e 'members nearly barfin' on Molls neither. Or how Hog tried ta kill 'im again fer tha'.'
"Ah, that is right, you were quite ill when you made that offer, weren't you?" She said, looking back up at the see through head, that looked quite relieved at the excuse.
Ugh, Now Rat wished he'd just let him screw himself over!
"Yes, yes I was! I must have made that offer while I wasn't feeling well, an old habit I suppose." He said, then looked at her, curious, "What was her reply again?"
"She politely turned you down, saying that she wanted to be a Hero of Overwatch when she grows up and save the world." She smiled broadly, most likely remembering how she had said she wanted to be heros just like them. Rat lost himself in the pleasant memory and the feel of her fingers through his hair and his chin in her lap, his eyes closing and a happy, dazed grin on his face.
He was in heaven right now. No doubts about that. He had a feeling that someone, maybe his parents, back before the haze of the radiation blasted through the Outback, had told him about heaven. A place you go where you die. Later his definition of heaven was rewritten to be a place where water was clean and it and food were plentiful, where medicine was easy to come by and where he could basically make his bombs safely and try all the designs he never had the proper supplies to give a real go.
So, basically here.
Hog had once given him one of those mushy books where the main character discussed how heaven was in the arms of the person they love. At the time, Rat saw it as a pathetic one liner to make the people who bought the book (Hog stole it) feel justified paying however much they paid for it that the pile of pages was truly a wonderful work of romantic fiction.
And while Rat wasn't sure he could say that book was a wonderful work of romantic fiction, he now realized that the pile of shite was right; It was heaven in her arms.
"Yes, well, a proper education never hurts, and the offer will still stand when she's older. And while I know you are doing your best, it is not your job to teach her…"
"I am not the only one teaching her. The others are all doing their fair share, even when Lúcio was here, he was teaching her how to read sheet music and before he left, he said Molly got him thinking about making an album to help children learn their letters and numbers."
The suit made a disgusted noise in his throat, "More like to brainwash young children into believing his lies." He accused.
Rat bit back an urge to comment about how a bloke who tried mind controlling a whole town with sound had no right to accuse anyone else of such a thing.
Pot calling the Kettle corn, or something like that.
"It's not as if such things didn't exist before, there are songs that teach several things to children, I believe even we learned such songs while in Vishkar schools." She swallowed hard and Rat put his hands over hers and gently moved her flesh palm to his lips and gave it a soft kiss, making her relax a bit as she continued on to say that, "And while I disagree with nearly everything he stands for, he and I do agree on one thing; that children should be able to have an education, no matter what their circumstances."
"Well, at least he has one somewhat decent opinion." The suit sighed, then paused, confused, "Vaswani, what are you doing with your hands?"
Shite.
"What?" she asked, surprised.
"What. Are you doing. With your. Hands." He said, anger present in his voice.
He quickly grabbed his phone and texted Molly:
'Con room, h 'n s, hurry.'
"Vaswani?" He called, annoyed that she wasn't answering.
Rat then saw Molly come running around the corner to the rescue through the glass wall, Bob at her heels as she stuffed her new phone into her pocket before she flung the door open and shouted, "FOUND YOU, RAT!" while pointing under the table at him, giving him a broad smile as she did so, pleased that she could help.
He bit back a sigh of relief as he popped out from beside Satya, "Aw, 'n I thought I had ya this toime!" he laughed before looking to his secret girlfriend, "Thanks fer keepin' quiet 'bout me bein' there, 'Metra!"
She let out a sigh of relief that they'd managed to come up with a good excuse as to why he was there before saying, "Please don't do that again." Her words meaning for him not to pop up so suddenly, while sounding like something she would say if asked to stay quiet about him being under the table to play a kids game.
"Roight, next toime I'll hoide behind Hog!" he said.
"That would be the first place she'd look." Satya teased, Molly and Bob nodding vigorously in agreement.
"Ha! Good point!" He laughed.
"Excuse me, but WHY was there a Junker under the table?!" The suit demanded.
"We're playin' hoide 'n seek..." Molly replied, as if it was obvious, "'N I was it."
"I slipped in 'ere 'fore th' meetin'. Asked 'Metra ta act loike I wasn' 'ere." Rat fibbed.
"Okay. Why are you playing hide and seek?" He snapped.
"A bunch of kids are comin' over so we can all go ta a Halloween party in town! I need ta practice playin' games loike a normal kid!" Molly told him.
The suit's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, "Ah." He then looked to Satya, "You aren't going to such a thing, are you? I mean, with your… condition…"
Junkrat struggled to not break the hologram, a feeling brewing in his gut that the comment was more about not letting her have fun with the rest of them then her 'autism' (he still had no idea what the fuck that word meant). But before he could say or do anything he wouldn't regret later, Molly gave him the most heartbroken look to ever guilt trip, "But… But I worked so hard on th' costumes with Hana…" Her eyes began to water, "'N… 'n we were lookin' forward ta seein' 'er face when she saw it. 'N…'n…" She then started crying, Satya bending down to comfort the child as Bob growled at the hologram (Good boy, remind him who's the real threat here). Rat glared at the suit, silently threatening a slow and painful death to the man who had better be on the other side of the planet if he wanted a chance to survive, pulling a denotator out of his pocket and snarling along with Bob.
He watched as the bastard went white and nervously cleared his throat, "Ehem. I'm sorry Vaswani, I have another call coming through…" He then quickly hung up.
Fucking little slimy shite! When Rat got his hands on him, he and Hog would make the cunt regret every choice he'd ever made! The sound of a sobbing child quickly disarmed him and he stuffed the device back into one of his pockets, determinded to do damage control for once as he knelt down and gently ruffled her hair, "Don' worry too much about it, Molls, tha' bloke jus' don' know how ta have fun."
She nodded with a sniffle as she wiped at her face, seeming unconvinced as she looked at Satya, "Yer-yer still gonna come ta th' party with us, roight?" she asked, her violet eyes pleading.
"Of course! This is one of the few parties I've actually been looking forward to!" she told her, doing her best to hide her discomfort at the thought of being in such a large, loud crowd with so many people in it. Rat felt his stomach twist at that, a little annoyed that the suit may actually have had Satya's wellbeing in mind when he'd said that bit about not going before. But at the same time, he would be there too, he'd look after her to make sure she wasn't overwhelmed. He could handle such a simple boyfriend duty like that, right?
Molly beamed at her and gave her a big hug, her body shaking, "Thank you." She murmured before looking up at her, "You'll loike th' costume! Struth! It's so pretty!" she assured her, her eyes sparkling.
"She ain' loyin'." Rat piped in, "Seen it. Helped with it. Looks ace."
"Really?" she asked, sounding interested.
"Yup, but I ain' gonna ruin the surprise, Pipsqueak'll kill me." He reminded her.
"Then it's probably best that I stay in the dark, I wouldn't want my curiosity to be the death of you." She teased.
"Ta." He replied, making her chuckle before looking at Molly, "So, what were you up ta?" He asked her.
"I was helpin' with th' costumes!" Molly informed him, "The others are comin' tomorrow, so…"
"Oh, roight!" Rat said, smiling at her as he stood, "you excited ta meet all those other ankle boiters?"
Molly seemed to wring her hands, looking a bit uncomfortable, "Yeah, I guess…" she said, a bit nervous and her eyes glued to the floor as she spoke.
He and Satya quickly made eye contact before looking back down at her, "Is something wrong, Molly?" she asked.
"… Koinda." She said softly, "It's just, I don' really know any of 'um. I mean, 'Risa talks ta Efi all th' toime 'n Torb talks ta 'is family a lot, but I don' really know any of 'um…" She shrank a bit as she stopped to gently pat her puppy's head, "What if they don' loike me?" she asked in a quiet voice, her head staying down, but her cowlicks drooping and her body shaking a bit, almost as if she was trying not to cry again. Bob began doing damage control, covering her face in reassuring doggie kisses and nuzzling her as best he could.
Rat bent down and sat down beside her on the floor as he began rubbing her back, "It'll be foine, Molls." He said, uncertain of what to say next here. He had faith that she could make millions of friends, but until he'd come here, he only had one friend (that he could remember, anyway) and he had to pay him before he actually started to like him, so who the fuck was he to be able to convince her of that?
"Well, if you truly are nervous, perhaps you should ask Hana for advise on how to make friends? She is very popular with people online and off, perhaps she could give you some tips." Satya suggested as she sat down with them too, graceful as ever as she took a spot beside him.
He was so giving her a big kiss for that as soon as Molly and Bob were out of sight.
"… You-you really think tha' will work?" she asked them softly, Bob kissing a tear off her cheek as her violet eyes sparkled with hope
"'Course!" Rat assured her, scooping her up and plopping her on his shoulders, holding onto her with his metal hand staying on her pants and his flesh arm scooping Bob into his arm, "Come on, we'll take ya!" he offered as he and Satya both rose to their feet.
"And if you still feel uncomfortable after Hana teaches you, Molly, come by my room later, I'll teach you a few socializing tips I learned when I was young that might help you as well."
"Okay." She said, wrapping her arms around Junkrat's head, nuzzling her cheek into his hair, then pouted, "Rat, yer hair smells funny." She complained.
"Okay, even I know tha' rule numbah one of makin' mates is 'Don' insult 'um.'" He replied dryily.
"I ain' tryin' ta insult ya! I jus' mean it don' smell loike normal!" She explained, quickly, not liking that he seemed to feel like she insulted him.
"You been smellin' me hair on th' reg?" he asked, laughing.
"Not reg." she replied, "Jus', hard not ta when 'm up this hoigh." She put her hand through his hair, "It's softer than normal too." She reported.
"Well, I washed it today." He said, "Maybe tha's it."
"Prob'ly." She said, nuzzling her head into his hair, "Sorry I made ya think tha' it was bad." She apologized.
"No worries." He said easily, pausing for a moment asking, "But it smells good, roight?" Molly gave him a thumbs up, her face not leaving his hair.
"Are you going to pull your head from out of there?" Satya chuckled. Molly shook her head, "No, it's comfy 'ere."
"Comfy, ay?" he repeated, laughing, "Good ta know!"
Once they made it to Hana's room, she and Satya worked to help yank Molly off of him before Pipsqueak gave them her word that she'd boost her confidence and work on her people skills before he and Satya were left alone in the hall.
He looked over at Satya and smirked, "Oi, Sat, ya hear?" He pointed to the top of his head, "'M comfy!"
She chuckled, "That remains to be seen. You only have Molly's word, after all."
"You callin' 'er a loiar?" he asked.
"No, I'm saying you may need another person to confirm it." She said, her voice a low purr.
"You offerin'?" He grinned eagerly.
"If you aren't too busy." She replied warmly.
"Nah, Luv," He said, scooping her up into his arms and smiling as she let out a pleasantly surprised laugh, "Got all day." He assured her as he motioned towards her room, "Yer room?" He asked.
"Unless you've cleaned yours yet." She said.
"Yer room it is, then." He replied, making her laugh even harder for a moment as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
It didn't take long to get to her room, hers, Pipsqueak's, Molly's and Mercy's were the furthest from the hallway that sat between the boy's and girl's sides and Pipsqueak's was literally just across the hall from Satya.
He gently placed her down on her bed with a kiss to her forehead, earning a few more giggles for himself that he would commit to his poor memory.
She then motioned for him to sit on the floor by the end of her bed and she began threading her fingers through his hair again. And since he didn't need to hide anywhere this time, he was free to lean into her touch as her nails carefully scratched at his scalp, a big goofy grin on his face as she began softly singing something in her native tongue, leaving him wondering what she was saying as he let his eyelids droop from the soothing sound of her song.
Yeah, he was totally in heaven right now. He had no idea what he did to get here, but he'd gladly do it again in a heart beat.
It was a blissfully long time before she kissed his forehead, silently informing him that she was done and he happily opened them to see her smiling warmly down at him.
Yup, definitely heaven.
He hopped up and spun a bit, "Clean 'nough ta sit?" he asked. She carefully inspected his shorts before excitedly blurting that, "You did laundry?"
"Yeah!" He replied, equally excited that she had noticed, "Thanks ta you, 'm finally startin' ta get used ta it! Even used th' dryer this toime!"
She chuckled and said, "I still cannot believe that in this age, you Australians still use clothes lines!"
"Oi, dryers take a lot of energy ta run," He explained as he pointed upwards with a finger, "Sun does jus' as good fer nothin'."
"Perhaps in Australia." She said, "Where I'm from, the air was dirty with pollution, it was much cleaner to use a clothes washer and dryer than it was to do it by hand and hang it to dry." She said, pausing for a moment, as if lost in her own memories of her first home.
"Was Hyderabad really tha' bad?" he asked as he sat down beside her
"It's called Hyderabad for a reason, Jamie." She said softly as she leaned into his shoulder, "But, while I do not miss the place. I do miss the people. My family especially."
"Yer family, huh?" He asked, a brief flash of a pair with broad smiles and fuzzy faces from above popped into his mind before fleeing back to the abyss that happened before the Omnium blew, "What are they loike?" He found himself asking.
She was surprised for a moment, then screwed her face up in concentration, "Well, my father and older brothers were often away from home, working, but my mother and grandmother were often with me." Her smile grew wide and soft as she told him that, "My grandmother was a warm, but tough woman, stern, exact, she always knew what she wanted and prepared for everything. My mother was far more relaxed and optimistic, gentle, but she often was the life of the party. She was well liked and taught me how to dance. We'd often sing songs and dance as we worked around the house, cleaning, cooking, holding hands as we went shopping for dinner so no one got snatched up or hurt. When we were done, I'd draw patterns on old wallpaper and scraps of paper my father and brothers would bring home from their work." She scowled, "They used to be so loud when they got home for dinner! It was always so much at once and I'd been knocked over more than once because I'd been overwhelmed by so much happening at once… But," her face became remorseful, "Even if it was overwhelming at times, I found myself missing it when I left for Vishkar."
"How'd you foind them?" He asked.
"They found me." She corrected, "They saved me from that dirty, horrible crime ridden place." She began forming something in the palms of her hands, "They gave me the education I never had." A small structure began to bloom from the crystal in her palm, "They gave me a home that was clean and safe. They gave me the life I have now. They gave me the ability to bring my ideas into reality." She said, the hard light lotus flower finally blossoming into the world, "They gave me hard light."
"… Do they let you call yer Mum, though?" he asked quietly as he gently picked up the flower and pulled a few things from his pockets and began fiddling with odds and ends.
"… I-I haven't spoken to her in years." She admitted as she watched him carefully begin to make something out of nothing but scraps of what people would consider garbage. Seeming to find it as fascinating as he found her hard light to be.
"Betcha 'Thena could foind 'er number." He pointed out.
"We never had a phone, they may have one now, but…" She began to nuzzle deeper into his chest, her voice becoming smaller and smaller as she explained that, "I left so long ago and never talked to them again, I never meant for it to happen, it just… did."
"Tell 'er tha' then." He said.
"What if she's angry at me for not contacting them for so long? What if she hates me? What if they all hate me? What if…?"
"Satya." He called into her ear, her body stiffening as he carefully placed the new accessory he'd turned her flower into into her hands before giving her a kiss on the forehead. He then gently pulled her into his lap and quietly wrapped himself around her and clasped her hands in his, "They'd havta be crazy not ta wanna talk ta ya. Hell 'm crazy, 'n I wanna talk ta ya as much as I can."
"You are not crazy." She told him, her head resting in the crook of his neck, "You are a very sweet, smart and eccentric man, but you are not crazy." She sucked in a breath and pulled her hands away to pull her phone out of her pocket, "Would you mind being a comfort as well while I try to find if they've gotten a phone since I last saw them?"
He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her middle, his phone in hand, "Not at all, Luv, not at all. But 'ere, use moine. They can' track calls from moine." She took it carefully from him and gave him a grateful smile, "Thank you, Jamie."
"No worries! I mean, what koind of secret boyfriend would I be if I left ya hangin'?"
"A better kept one." She said flatly, then gave him a kiss on the cheek, "But I am grateful that you are here with me right now."
"Wouldn' be nowhere else, Luv." He murmured, wrapping himself around her as she looked up to the ceiling, "Athena, can you search for phone numbers registered in Hyderabad?"
"I can. Who are you looking for phone numbers for, Agent Symmetra?"
Junkrat cupped her hands with his, their little accessory sparkling in the light, his arms wrapped around her in a comforting hug. She closed her eyes, sucked in a breath and began listing names.
He spent the rest of the day holding her close as she talked to her family, listening to her speak rapidly in her mother tongue while fiddling with the accessory they had made together. When she finally hung up, she then happily reported everything she'd learned to him, telling him that her family was so proud of her, how her brothers had actually gotten married in one of the first buildings she'd designed, how the hospital she had designed last year had been where her new nephew had been born. (She then happily showed him pictures of both the weddings and the baby via a blog her sister-in-law had) How her family had pictures of her work, clippings of her interviews and the magazine covers she'd done all over their refrigerator, how they were amazed that she was working with Overwatch, and how happy her mother was that she had not only made friends who truly loved and accepted her, but that she was treated so well and treasured just as much as they believed she did. He smiled, glad to see how happy she was that her family was so proud and loved her so much, a small sickening thought in the back of his mind about how Vishkar kept her from them and how they probably planted those seeds of doubt about how her family may not love her anymore as a way to further excert control over her.
Yeah, next time they saw that bastard suit, he and Hog were probably gonna find a nice little secret place to slaughter the fucker and burn the body beyond recognition.
"I also told her that I was dating a certain someone and keeping it a secret from Vishkar." She whispered, his thoughts going from aggravated murder plans to nervousness as he hoped that her family would be accepting of their relationship, for her sake at least. (Or to stick it to the company that kept her away from them, he was fine with either one.) As he understood that having a relationship with a Junker wasn't something that most people would condone and that they, much like Vishkar only wanted the best for her. He wanted it too, that's why he was doing his best to be the best he could be to her. While he had a feeling some other bloke, or hell, even a sheila could probably do better than he could, he doubted anyone on this planet wanted to make her happier than he did, even her family.
"'N?" he asked, anxious.
"She's happy as long as I'm happy." She said firmly, "But she is not going to tell my father until she can find a way to keep him from coming here to take me home."
"Get Molls on th' phone with 'er." He teased, "Tha' should be enough."
"Not Roadhog?" she chuckled.
"Nope. He'd tell 'er th' truth." He said, making her laugh even harder.
"You are happy with me, aren' ya?" He asked, silently praying to any diety he could again, pleading that they'd continue to have Molly's birthday wish come true and grant them happiness (they owed the kid that much at least for all the other crap they let happen to her and her siblings!).
She kissed the tip of his nose, making him giggle, "Blissful."
"Glad ta hear it, Luv. Really, really glad." He murmured softly into her hair before covering her in kisses, her giggles and playful protests music to his ears before exchanging soft kisses on the lips and cuddling until dinner time.
"Jamie?" she called as he escorted her out of her room.
"Yeah?"
"Molly was right, you are a very comfortable person to cuddle with." She told him. He flushed, frozen for a moment before she started to tug him towards the mess hall by the hand, a wide grin on his face as he quickly caught up with her, their flesh fingers intertwined and the feeling of floating in mid air tight in his lungs and his foot.
Huh, maybe heaven is everything he heard about and more as long as he's with her.
