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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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Satya Vaswani Smile

Hey @threepointonefourmakesxai ! I went and made you a fic based off of your request. Thank you so much for participating in this event! I hope you enjoy this and I hope you have a wonderful new year!

You can read your story either under the cut or over on my AO3!

Junkrat fucked up.

He didn’t know when exactly, or even how. But at some point this which for whatever the reason he fucked up things with Symmetra.

She was still working next to him in the labs. But she would hardly look at him! And when she spoke to him she was so clinical and curt. More so than usual. So much that it’d finally dawned on Junkrat that Satya was intentionally trying not to speak with him. That she was mad with him.

And Junkrat had no idea what he did.

Maybe a year ago he wouldn’t have cared. He definitely wouldn’t have worried over apologizing, he wouldn’t even bother with any of that nonsense. He would have just ignored the lady, brush her aside just as quickly as she was ostracizing him, call her another one of those stuffy suits, cause a few pranks to get a rise out of her then just… move on with his life.

But this wasn’t just some lame old suit. This wasn’t a faceless nobody who he’d just go on to forget. This wasn’t even the same woman he’d met when they first joined the team, a woman he assumed would always judge him and never see him as more than a criminal or a coward. This was Satya Vaswani, this was Symmetra. And ‘Metra had come to be one of the most precious people in his life. The only person who shared that title was Roadhog.

So if Symmetra was mad at him than he needed to figure out a way to win back her favor or die trying!

First he tried to figure out what the hell he even did wrong.

He was tempted to just go ask her but whenever he got close to Symmetra she’d either glower at him, or worse yet her face would stay completely neutral and she’d just raise a single eyebrow, as if daring him to take another step closer and see what would happen. And while not always the safest person on the Overwatch team he at least had enough self-preservation to know he ought to avoid Symmetra. At least until he had a plan of fixing whatever he did and apologizing.

So without knowing exactly what he did wrong, Junkrat began formulating a way to make things up to Symmetra. He started off by trying to think of all the sorts of things he knew the woman actually liked. In the time they’d come to know one another and even develop a relationship he’d learned there was a lot more to Satya “Symmetra” Vaswani than met the eye.

For example, everyone who was anyone knew she was an amazing architect but her fascination went much deeper. She adored art, especially in the 3rd dimension in all its forms such as sculpture, CGI and architecture. And it was more than just art appreciation of simply liking art a lot. For Symmetra that 3rd dimension was a special interest of hers. Going as far as to memorize the names of many great artists as a child and study their styles and inspiration. Even to this day if someone brought the subject up Symmetra could talk for hours on end about art. Many times Junkrat had gotten so caught he almost fooled himself into liking art too just because of how much passion Satya had for the stuff! And it was that dedication and good eye in Junkrat’s opinion that had helped Symmetra become an even greater architect. She didn’t just see boring towers waiting to be built in over-crowded cities. She saw art and beauty. She wanted to inspire people the way old artists had inspired her.

Also despite being such a regal, poised woman, Symmetra loved to stim. Junkrat had seen her fiddle with a few physical things before, a pen, an object she’d just built, but she stimmed the most with her hard light. It reminded Junkrat of a man he’d known back in Junkertown who would wind up old strings in his hand into all different kinds of shapes. Symmetra would do so with her blue lights, turning them this way and that until they created these different crystals or towers of interwoven triangles. Whenever she had down time, or felt nervous, or found herself trying to focus intently on a project, like clockwork her mechanical hand would begin glowing and she’d set off forming light structures. And while most of the time Symmetra’s stim shapes were just nonsense pattern’s that built nothing, sometimes Junkrat caught her making little intricate crystals or flowers.

She also loved tea, whenever the two of them went out to a café it was a given that while Junkrat got his boba, Symmetra would get her own cup of tea. Though unlike his own iced, half sweet brew, Symmetra preferred a cup of warm freshly-brewed stuff without any sort of milk or sugar. And while she usually got similar things, a few times when she claimed to want to “treat herself” she would order these special brews that came in a glass pot where you could watch as a flower slowly bloomed in the tea or little pearls of dry leaves would unfurl in a nice little showy display.

She also had a soft spot for kids. So worst comes to worst, Junkrat could bring a kid like Efi along with him to make sure Symmetra didn’t do anything rash in front of the children. She always wanted to make a good impression on kids, always acting polite and listening to what they had to say.

And while she wasn’t very good at caring for plants she still appreciated how they looked and their ability “to seem so simple but truly be so complicated on the cellular level” as she put it.

Oh, and even though it could make her homesick at times she still adored Bollywood. The music, the outfits and costumes, the dancing, the movies, all of it!

So at least Junkrat had that, now all he needed to do was figure out what pieces he could use to make things up to Symmetra.

Most of the things he could recall didn’t seem to fit together in any perfect pictures. However Junkrat was nothing if not an inventor. And it was his specialty to take small things that seemed like nothing to others and turn them into something they couldn’t ignore… usually bombs. But he knew that he could figure out how all these small pieces of Symmetra’s interests could fit together into something so great she would have no choice but to stop being mad at him!

Two days later he finally got something and was ready to show it to Symmetra, along with what he hoped would make a good apology.

Symmetra had been in the middle of creating a new model when Junkrat slid a cardboard box in front of her, disrupting her hard light.

“What is this Junkrat?” She asked in a humorless dry tone.

Trying not to lose his cool, Junkrat cleared his throat. “Uh, why don’t you open it up and find out?”

Sighing through her nose, Symmetra dispersed the light from her gauntlet and began unwrapping Junkrat’s gift. He’d done a quick sloppy job taping the box closed, Junkrat expected her to at least comment on the crummy job he did wrapping. But she didn’t say anything. She just continued to silently unwrap the box until she could finally pull the tabs apart and see what Junkrat had given her.

Inside was what could probably be best described as an oversized desk ornament. A shelf if you were feeling generous. Held together by a metal frame a few pedestals branched out from a base. Each branch seemed to be molded to look like shining towers in Utopaea, though rather than the shining silver and gold of the city these were made from a more rustic metal that had been painted orange and blue. And within each “tower” were different hollowed out spaces. Some of which were already taken up by packages of floral teas or little succulent plants. And scattered all about the little towers were photos and cut pictures. Some Junkrat had found of different cities Vishkar had constructed like Utopaea or Oasis, others that seemed to just be the more natural landscapes of India, but mostly there was pictures taken of their base in Gibraltar, and of all the people the pair now considered friends.

“Tah-dah!” Junkrat sang, making jazz hands. “A little something to remind ya of home!”

Symmetra was trying to keep their face neutral. But Junkrat had seen the look of surprise on her face as she’d taken the little city out of its box, and how that spark of joy had yet to leave her eyes as she ran her hand along the lovingly crafted towers, modeled after her own work.

“This is indeed a fine show of craftsmanship.” Symmetra said in a bored tone, not even her voice reflected that happiness Junkrat had seen in her eyes. But as she turned her head to Junkrat, she tried to remain serious. “What on earth prompted you to build such a thing?”

“Oh you know, I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been… eh, off these past few days. And I thought, I ought to make’ya something nice and… cheer you up?”

Symmretra raised an eyebrow, though she had yet to let go of the little city. “You spent all this time making this thing just to cheer me up?” She asked, repeating his own words.

“Also, I uh, I wanted to apologize.” Junkrat said nervously, hand subconsciously going to rub at the back of his head. He could hardly look at her and waited for the other shoe to drop.

“So yeah, I’m real sorry ‘Metra. About all… that?”

Whatever small look of happiness on Symmetra’s face seemed to instantly die as she looked at him directly. For a moment Junkrat was horrified that she was going to smash Junkrat’s gift on the ground but instead she set it down gently in the center of her workbench. Her constant, emotionless gaze however did little to make Junkrat feel any better.

“Tell me Junkrat, do you know why you’re sorry?”

And here it was. The moment Junkrat had been trying to avoid. He honestly had no idea what’d he’d done to piss her off. His best bet was he broke something on accident, but he couldn’t recall smashing anything recently. Plus everything in Symmetra’s side of the workshop seemed to be in good condition. His only other guess was that maybe she thought he smelled or something, but he’d been staying on top of his hygiene more recently. Besides that he had nothing. Absolutely nothing.

“Uhhhhhhh-”

All at once that calm exterior was dropped and Satya glowered at Jamison with a fire normally only left to the battlefield. “You completely humiliated me in front of my Vishkar associates!”

“Oh, that’s what that was? When the hell’d I do that?”

“Last Tuesday. I was in the middle of a call with my associates to update them on my work. And I’d explicitly asked that everyone stay out of the workshop while I made my call. And not only did you walk through! But you were completely shirtless and scratching yourself!”

Everything finally fell into place, Junkrat wanted to say something more thought-out but all that came out was “Ohhhhhhhhhh…”

“I can’t believe you!” Symmetra continued, massaging her temples. “After you left I was reprimanded for your lack of dress code, or professionalism of any sort! It was so humiliating!”

“Hey at least you weren’t the one runnin’around shirtless!” Junkrat tried to joke, the only reaction he got from Symmetra was another glare. Though she was already starting to lose that fire from moments before. “And Overwatch don’t even have a dress code. No one’s ever got on me case for not wearing shirts before.”

“I know, and there is no policies here on how to dress.” Symmetra agreed. “It’s just, I feel like as I’ve been here I’ve grown more lack with my own self-discipline… And my meeting was another harsh reminder that I still have responsibilities. A vision to uphold”

Junkrat frowned. “That sounds like Vishkar talk.”

“Well, I do owe them my entire career.” Symmetra argued. “My education… The opportunities they gave me. My whole life even.”

“Nah.”

“No?”

“I don’t agree with that.” Junkrat said. “I think no matter how you would’a ended up right here doing what you’re doing. Whether you got roped up with a fancy company or not.”

“But without Vishkar’s training I wouldn’t know how to manipulate hardlight.” Symmetra said.

“No, I mean bigger than that.” Junkrat continued. Reaching over to grab the little city he’d built her. “No matter how, you’d find a way to do what you do. Sure you can get trained or whatever but you got something bigger than all that. You got a mind. You got ideas and dreams. And you do what you do to make things happen. And you wanna help people. Like really help people.”

Symmetra said nothing, watching as Junkrat placed the city back onto her workbench, sliding it closer so she could see some of the pictures of their Overwatch team.

“So I’m sorry I made an ass of myself in front of those suites. But you know what? I don’t care about any of those blokes! And I don’t think you should either. Cause no matter what you’re already lightyears ahead of those bastards, no matter how they try to drag you down and make you feel bad!”

“You really think so?” Satya asked.

“Sure!” Jamison said, suddenly realize he’d gotten so loud as he talked that he was practically shouting.

But then, for the first time in days, Jamison saw Satya smile, and he knew everything he’d said and done had been worth it.

“Thank you Jamison…”

“Any time darl!”

#symmrat #junkmetra #threepointonefourmakesxai #symmratgiftexchange #symmratgiftexchnage2018 #symmrat gift exchange

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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A gift for the spectacular @sweetcrispyotter!!! Happy birthday and I hope you enjoy your present!!!!!

Satya smiled to herself as she lifted one foot from the water, watching the way the drops caught the light as they arced into the air, before falling back into the ocean beneath her. She loved the sea; it was peaceful and soothing and when she came to her favourite rockpools, way up past where the tourists went, she was usually assured of some alone time. Satya leaned back on her hands and glanced up at the sky, watching the perfect, fluffy clouds float aimlessly by. A splash called her attention back to the water, where she was just in time to see a flash of scales disappear beneath the water, perhaps some four metres from her bare feet. Satya pulled her feet out of the water and watched suspiciously, not wanting such an obviously large fish to nibble her toes.

#symmratgiftexchange #writing #This is so sweet! Thank you so much for participating!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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@mobstersought IM SO SORRY THIS IS LATE!!! but here’s your symmrat secret santa! I love ask the engineers blog and this is what I’d imagine those two would look like after they returned to their bodies, and finding themselves in a certain situation :).

Thanks for being great, hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!🎄🎁🎉🎊

#symmratgiftexchange2018 #art #awwwww that's adorable! they certainly have a lot to sort out after going back lol Thank you for participating!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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Junkmetra Secret Santa Fic- The Thought That Really Counts

I’m really late with this whoops hahaha

But I’m glad that I got this done before 2019 starts and my gift was to @hiyaitsberry who requested some Christmas Fluff! So how about Jamison giving some gifts to Satya and her secretly loving it! I hope you enjoy and sorry I was late!

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Satya worked as she shifted the light on her table into an object of reality. Smiling pridefully, she gazed at its beauty until it faded.

A soft deep breath in.

BAM! “Heya, Sat!”

Then an exhausting breath out.

Jamison Fawkes. The man that drove her insane the first time they were paired together in a mission. She had wanted nothing to do with him. But…

She did find him interesting.

Aside from his obnoxious behavior and hazardous smell, she found that he had a background when it came to crafts and engineering. Who else built that functioning grenade launcher? That mine that somehow doesn’t blow him up to multiple parts? And he did have a big brain when it came to proposing ideas to her. One time he offered as a collaboration they reprogram her sentry turrets to shoot his grenades rapidly instead of lasers. Admittedly, Satya liked the idea, but refused.

“Jamison, what is it this time?” She turned around and was met with a rather large box with a bow on top. He was holding it, nervously holding it out towards her, offering it with a nervous smile.

“M-Merry Christmas, Sat!” He stuttered.

Her eyes widened slightly. A present? For her? She…never had been given a present before. She took the box and looked at it, examining it.

“What is inside the box?” She asked, shaking it.

Jamison laughed. “Now where’s the fun in that if I tell ya? I…picked it out for ya.”

Picked it out?

He blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head. “I…hope ya like it, Sat.”

She smirk “If I may so ask, who did the bow for you? I certainly do not think it was you that did it.”

The junker looked away and rubbed his head more hastily. Satya liked when she teased him. He would get all…adorable.

“Alright, fine! I had Roadie do it. To tell ya the truth, it was no surprise that he could do something like that. And he did the gift wrapping, as well.” Jamison sighed.

Satya maintained her smirk. “Well, Jamison. I like your honest answer. And…thank you for the present. Merry Christmas to you too.”

She could witness the blush on his face brighten as he laughed. “Hahah! Merry Christmas to you too, Sat! Uh…s-see you around?”

She chuckled. “See you…when I want to ask you something.”

Jamison laughed nervously as he left. As soon as the door was closed, Satya ferociously ripped open the wrapping paper almost like a child and opened the box.

Her eyes widened slightly when she saw a flower in the small box. More specifically, a lotus flower…with some of its petals burnt off.

Jamison.

She sighed. Her natural instinct says it wasn’t perfect. But after a few moments, she smiled when Satya came to realize a new beauty to it. This wasn’t some ordinary flower Jamison picked out for her. It was a lotus flower with his generosity and personal thought to it. That, or he “accidently” burnt off the petals.

But it was enough to reconsider it perfect to her.

She looked inside the box again, and there were more contents she didn’t even see. She sat and pulled them out.

There were small earrings that resembled the junker symbol Satya always saw on Jamison’s clothing and weapons, a full set of clothing with the same symbol all over them. Socks, shirts, and even socks, made out of different fabric sewed together. There was even battle gear fitted for her as well.

“Jamison…are you trying to outdo yourself?” Satya laughed. “Now what am I going to gift you in return?” She sighed.

————–

The next day, Satya grinned as she met the jaw dropped Jamison stuttering out her name as she walked into the briefing room wearing all of his gifts. The battle gear and shirts as well as the earrings and the burnt lotus flower patted on the side of her head.

“I’ll get you a gift soon. Thank you for the gifts and Merry Christmas, Jamison.” She said with a bow.

“Y-y-yeh…” He felt like he was going to faint.

She would get him something soon. But for now, she would enjoy his gifts. And teasing him a lot about it.

#symmratgiftexchange2018 #writing #This was so adorable! Junkrat's reactions are just the best! Thank you for participating!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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A Holiday in Gibraltar

Hey there! @madam-mirage I was your secret santa! I had a lot of fun with your prompt and I hope you enjoy this look into how Satya and Rat celebrate their second holiday season apart of Overwatch! Happy Holidays and Hope you have a lovely new year!

You can read your story under the cut or over on my ao3!

Keep reading

#symmratgiftexchange2018 #writing #this was my own contribution to the gift exchange! Hope you enjoy Madam!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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For @lolzwaitwhat for the @symmratgiftexchange! I lost my damn ink pens and my Amazon replacement order finally arrived.

This WILL have color (planning and orange/blue theme with each having some of the other’s color on them). But my ink needs drying time.

Happy Holidays and New Year!

#symmratgiftexchange2018 #art #they look so adorable! lovely details too! Thanks for participating!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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Symmrat Gift Exchange for @thetimeslug!

Title: Blue Light and Orange Metal: Cat’s Observations

Hey, @thetimeslug, I’m your Secret Santa for the @symmratgiftexchange, and I’m so sorry this took so long! It took me three tries to actually get a story idea that worked while trying to not deal with accents (stupid awesome Aussie accents that I’m terrified of mangling). Anyways, hope you enjoy the fluff! And as our narrator is a cat, it’s two different kinds of fluff!

#symmratgiftexchange2018 #writing #this is just so adorable and I love the concept! Thank you for participating!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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Happy Holidays everyone!

I cannot thank you all enough for helping make this an awesome gift exchange! I’ve seen so much lovely art and stories, it’s certainly made the holiday season all the better and brighter!

Now here’s a little gift I’ve put together for everyone who participated (as well as anyone who just loves Symmrat) Hope you all enjoy this little playlist I put together and have a great new year!

You can hear the playlist on youtube (hopefully soon I’ll have it available on spotify soon as well!)

#symmrat #junkmetra #symmratgiftexchange #symmratgiftexchange2018 #symmrat gift exchange #music

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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@page-mistress gift for the symmrat gift exchange

sorry once again I wasn’t quite sure what you would like , but I’m very happy to hear that you liked it I had a lot of fun either way :)

#symmratgiftexchange2018 #art #awwwwww that's so adorable! Thank you for participating!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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title: no salvation for me now summary: there’s no space among the clouds, and i feel i’m headed down. but that’s alright. pairing: symmetra/junkrat notes: this is my secret santa fic for @randomqueens! what was once an inkling of a bushranger/gunslinger au turned into a nearly 8k behemoth. i hope you enjoy! and thank you @mintiture for helping me hash it out!!!

#symmratgiftexchange2018 #writing #woah! this is absolutely amazing! Lovely work! Thank you so much for participating!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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Here’s a little something I made for the @sweetcrispyotter for the symrat gift exchange! Happy yuletime friend, I love your work!! You asked for basically ‘whatever’ and I hope this satisfies! It was an honor to be assigned to you, I personally adore your work.

#symmratgiftexchange2018 #art #woah this came out amazingly! I love their little reactions to each other! Thanks for participating!

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symmratgiftexchange · 5 years

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Secret Santa for criticaldragon: “Liars, Cheaters and gambles”

Hi @criticaldragon! I am your Secret Santa this year! I hope you like it! :D

Roadhog made his way to the workshop, two large tins of Tim Tams in one massive hand, with several boxes of beer under his other arm.

Tonight was going to be their first poker night here and Rat, being Rat, was awful at keeping track of time when he was working on something, so he decided to be proactive and grab him a half an hour before poker night would start. Now, Hog could just leave Rat to his own devices (literally) in the workshop all night and enjoy the event without him… But at the same time, if he continued to let Rat waste away in the workshop, he’d never be better with people. He had to learn to socialize with normal society, and while he was friendly bloke to start with and a few good souls around here had been helping and even became his friends (Hana, Lúcio, Reinhardt, Torbjörn), he couldn’t let him stop there.

Junkrat wanted out of Junkertown and the two of them managed to get out, good on them, but unlike Hog, Rat had spent most of his life playing by Junkertown’s rules, he didn’t know how to live life any other way. He may have known how before the Outback went to hell, but that information is pretty much useless where they were from and probably sank into whatever black hole that the rest of his old life got sucked into in his head.

So he was going to make sure that Rat became better socially. If not for his own sake than for his, because if he had friends then it would make his job much easier and he’d be able to take a break now and then.

And he had a feeling tonight would help.

Hog honestly had no idea how or why, but after twenty years of living in a hellhole and a few years on the run, you learned to follow your instincts and that’s what his was telling him. That Poker night would help his flammable friend be better at socializing.

He opened the door and found Rat on the floor, various powders and scrap surrounding his little spot, the table designated as his workspace covered in half finished bombs ready to be sealed shut.

But, surprisingly, Rat wasn’t the only one in there.

No, that suit sheila, Symmetra, was in there too. Her eyes shifting from her work to his mess on the table next to hers and on the floor, her lip curled a bit in distaste as she seemed to be unable to stay focused on her work.

“Rat.” He called, making the lanky pyro snap out of his daze and look up at him. Hog held up the tins, “Poker noight.” He reminded him.

“Oh roight!” he said cheerfully as he quickly hopped out of his hunched over position on the floor and started jerking his arms and legs a bit to get the kinks out. Symmetra’s eyes widening as Rat stretched to his full height before moving his head a bit to make his neck pop. Hog held back a snort, people often were shocked when Rat stood at his full height, since he often was hunched over. But what did people expect? He was skinny as all hell and he often had a couple hundred pounds of explosives, tire and engine on his back! What, did they think his R.I.P tire was filled with helium and cotton candy or something?

To both Hog and Symmetra’s surprise, Rat turned to her and asked, “You comin’?”

The suit seemed to soak the invitation in for a moment, then silently contemplate her words before finally replying, “No thank you, I am not very interested in gambling. And, even if I was, it is forbidden for Vishkar employees to do so.”

“Seriously?” He replied, both shocked and disgusted at the information.

“Gambling is a disease of barbarians superficially civilized.” She quoted.

“Luv, loife is a gamble.” He said plainly, “Sometoimes ya win,” He indicated the workshop around them, “’N sometoimes ya lose.” He tapped on the knee joint of his peg leg, “But you’ll nevah know what yer missin’ if ya don’ take a chance every now ‘n then.”

“I’ve never had to take chances because we at Vishkar design solutions that involve no risks.” She said.

Rat snickered before glancing over her blueprints for a moment, thoughtful as he pulled the broken pencil he kept in his pocket out and began scribbling his smiley faces on several spots, “So what ‘bout all these?” He asked, pointing to each one of his signature smiley faces.

Roadhog could feel the tension in the room mounting and while he could drag Rat out of the room easily enough and let them both cool down and talk it out later, he had a feeling like he should let Rat try to get her to come too.

Again, he had no idea why, but at the same time, he wanted to see how this would go.

He glanced at the time, they had twenty minutes until the poker night was going to start and he doubted anyone would be surprised if they were late. So he’d give Rat twenty minutes to try to either convince or blackmail her to go.

He placed the snacks and the beers onto a free table, he then opened one of the boxes and helped himself to a beer as he sat down to watch.

Satya scowled as she went over every line in her newest building’s design, trying to see exactly what the flaws Junkrat had pointed out to her were while fuming that he had tried to use his knowledge to tempt her into joining them.

He had failed, of course, but the fact that he had used that knowledge against her, knowing how much it bothered her when there was a single flaw in her designs, let alone the many he picked out…

Ugh! She could still hear him teasing her;

“Well, I could tell ya all ‘bout ‘um, ‘Metra, but I’ve gotta go ta Poker Noight. If ya came along, I’d be happy ta tell ya all ‘bout ‘um! You could even bring th’ plans with ya!” He’d offered with a broad, jagged, golden speckled smile.

She glared at him, “I am not going to poker night.” She said sternly.

“Shame.” He said with a shrug, leaning back and putting his arms behind his head, “Think it would do you some good ta get out fer a bit ‘n have some fun. You’ve been close ta poppin’ a vein over these plans fer a few days now. You could use a smoko.”

“Smoko?” she repeated.

“Break.” Roadhog translated, making her jump as well as reminding her that he was still here… sitting back and sipping a beer as he watched them chat.

Lovely. Just lovely. Normally she could count on Roadhog reeling Junkrat in when his antics got to be too much, but it looked as if that was not going to happen tonight.

No matter, she could handle this.

She closed her eyes for a moment and looked back to the chipper Aussie, who was smiling down at her, his amber eyes glistening with impish glee.

“You could tell me now.” She offered, “You have time.”

“Can’, sorry ‘Metra. Guess I’ll jus’ tell ya tomorrow.” He said, then paused, “Unless ya at least wanna walk down there with us,” he said thoughtfully, “Ya don’ have ta go in or nothin’, jus’ walk with us to th’ common room. I could probl’y at least go over one or two on th’ way there ‘n ya could get a start…”

She silently debated it for a moment, until she remembered hearing Tracer mention it and telling her that she should come by if she wanted to join in. No doubt if she was seen or Junkrat so much as said her name just outside the room they were holding the event in, she’d be dragged in by Tracer.

No, too risky.

“I guess you’ll tell me tomorrow then.” She relented, frustrated.

“Oh, don’ be loike tha’, ‘Metra.” He said, pointing to the many crude smiley faces he’d scribbled all over her plan, “At least ya know where th’ problems are now, tha’s a start! Who knows, you’ll probl’y have at least half of ‘um figured out in th’ mornin’!”

She soaked that in thoughtfully as she glanced over her soiled plans, he had a point. She was the best architect in Vishkar, if Junkrat, a man who, while quite intelligent in his own way, could find the flaws in her design so easily, so could she.

But still, now that she thought about it, “One quick non-architecture related question before you two go, though.” She said as Roadhog scooped up the many boxes of beer and Junkrat scooped up the tins of cookies. The lanky pyro looked at his partner in crime, who rumbled out that they had about seven minutes or so before Poker night started. The blonde then motioned for her to speak, curious.

“How long have you known about these flaws I’ve been agonizing over for days now?” she asked, annoyed.

“When I looked at it.” He said, before taking another look at the blueprint and quickly scribbling another smiley face on the plans before saying, “But tha’ one I jus’ found now.”

Roadhog then wisely escorted him out, wishing her a good night before the door closed behind them.

Satya rubbed at her temples, willing the flashback to stop so she could focus on her blueprints. The roughly drawn smiley faces silently mocking her on the page.

Why couldn’t she figure out what these flaws were?

And why couldn’t she find them before?

She heard a door open and looked up to see Junkrat with a large tupperware under his arm and two steaming mugs in his hands.

“’N ‘ere I was hopin’ ya jus’ went ta bed.” He sighed, “Oh well, least I don’ hafta drink all this by meself.” He said as he handed her one.

She took it with a soft thank you in her mother tongue and felt herself relax a bit as the warmth slowly began to seep from the ceramic into her flesh palm.

“Won a few bags of Nan’s special tea off ‘er.” He told her, “She says it’s good ta help people calm down. Figured you could use a cuppa.”

She jerked her head back a bit, surprised.

“What?” He said, putting the Tupperware onto the table and looking her dead in the eye, “Ya think jus’ ‘cause ‘mma Junker…” He started.

“No. I… I just thought after what you said earlier…” She began.

“Tha’ I’d jus’ leave ya ‘ere ta fret all noight?” He finished for her, “Look, I may be a bastard, but I’ve been ‘round ya long ‘nough ta know what makes ya tick. I know this koinda shoite makes ya lose th’ plot…”

“What?” she interrupted.

“Drives ya nuts, crazy, whacko.” He translated, “’N ‘m tellin’ ya roight now, there is only room fer one nutty builder ‘ere ‘n it’s me!” He declared proudly, making her chuckle a bit.

He smiled, pleased that he’d made her laugh before he said, “’Soides, I won a few snacks from Poker Noight, figured ya could use a boite ta keep yer energy up.”

“I’m sorry, did you just say that you won snacks at poker night?” she asked, confused.

“Yeah, 76 ‘n th’ ape said we couldn’ use cash, so we use snacks, won these ‘fore quittin’ toime so I got ta keep ‘um.” He pulled off the lid and pointed to a few fried half moon shaped foods, “Got those from Lúcio, called pastels, pretty good.” He pointed to a few packages with weird, noodle like objects that seemed to be a reddish orange color, “Pipsqueak called these tteauk-baukkie or something, they’re spicy roice crackers.” He then pointed to some fried buns, “Zarya called these pyro-somethin’, they’re ace. It’s a fluffy pastry with cherry fillin’…”

“I think I’ll have one of those.” Satya laughed, taking one, “Thank you.”

“Cheers.” He said, picking up another one and taking a bite. Satya bit into it and smiled as the flavorful cherry filling tickled her tastebuds, the flavor wasn’t like the cherries from back home, but it was still nice.

“Ya know, ya missed out on a lotta fun.” He said softly, getting crumbs on the table since the man could not figure out how to not talk with his mouth full, “I know tha’ ya said ya can’ gamble, but if it helps, it wasn’t really loike any gamblin’ I’ve done ‘fore ‘n even if ya still can’, ya can still have fun chattin’ ‘n snackin’…”

He then looked at her, his expression sheepish and guilty, “Th’ smiley faces were mostly jus’ me tellin’ porkies ‘n bein’ an arse.” He pointed with a flesh finger to a spot near a set of windows in a ballroom designed to open and close during events, the last spot he marked, “This was th’ only one tha’ was really a problem, ‘n tha’s ‘cause it’s easy ta foind a way ta make it work from th’ outsoide ‘n then get in tha’ way.”

Satya felt relief flood her system as she began erasing all but one of his smiley faces and writing notes next to it for herself and finally rolled the paper back up again, “Thank you for telling me this… but why did you lie to me?”

“…’Cause it pissed me off when ya said ya wouldn’ go jus’ ‘cause Vishkar ‘won’ let ya’. Yer one of th’ smartest sheilas I’ve ever met, ya ain’ ‘fraid ta tell it loike it is, yer kind ‘n noice ‘n yer gorgeous ‘n yer graceful ‘n ya smell good ‘n jus’ how can ya let those worthless bastards boss ya ‘round loike they own you? Not even let ya make yer own choices, ‘n don’ say they don’, ‘cause Lúcio’s told me all ‘bout th’ shoite they put th’ people of Rio through ‘n I’ve heard th’ way tha’ fuckin’ suit talks ta ya over yer calls. I jus’… I don’…!” He blurted, his face and ears pink, his hands held out in front of him as if he was ready to pick up whatever burden she was carrying and fling it into the forge before jumping in behind it out of embarrassment.

Satya’s face certainly felt as if it was burning at his words, she had been often praised for her skill with hard light, her designs and her beauty at those noisy parties Sanjay made her attend. But no one ever praised her for her overall intelligence, her straight forwardness, her grace, her smell. (He’s been smelling her?) People hardly ever called her kind or nice in general, often believing her to be cold and aloof.

“Jus’ WHY!?” he finally blurted, “Why do you let them control so much of yer loife?”

“I… I owe them.” Satya managed, rubbing her metal arm, “In a way.”

“… Well tha’ explains why they won’ let ya gamble.” He grumbled before looking her right in the eye, “I can spot ya…”

“I don’t owe them money.” She told him, “They… they made me who I am now.”

“Ain’ buyin’ it.” He said plainly, “I think, even without those bastards, you’d still be th’ best at what ya do. Th’ materials ‘n th’ method would probl’y be different, sure, but I really think ya don’ need them as much as ya think.”

“They gave me my hard light, I-I can’t build with anything else…” she said, her stomach twisting at the thought of building with anything other than hard light. She didn’t know anything about any other materials construction wise and the idea of losing everything she had worked so hard to achieve and earn… well it was terrifying to say the least.

“Why would ya hafta, I mean, unless they take yer arm…” He paused, his expression shocked before melting into a horrified expression, “They’d take your arm if ya left, wouldn’ they?”

She nodded, hugging herself, “It’s a part of my contract. I’d have to give it up if I left or was fired.”

“… Or we could make ya a new arm, figure out how hard loight works ‘n put it in the new one, you could leave, give back th’ arm ‘n they can’ do shoite.”

“Hard light is one of Vishkar’s most closely guarded secret, they’d come after me. I’d have to go on the run, watch my back every time I leave the base, do you have any idea how that…” she stopped, realizing how stupid that question was.

“Think I have a pretty good idea…” He chuckled, “’N it ain’ so bad, if worse comes ta worse, you can come with me ‘n Roadie. Ya could rebuild Junkertown with hard loight, make it all noice ‘n shoiny!” He joked.

Satya pondered that for a moment, beautiful blue buildings bursting from the remains of Junkertown, housing the people and helping them start to live better lives…

“We’ll make that plan B.” She finally replied, storing the new Junkertown plans she had made in her head for later.

“So makin’ a new hard loight arm is plan A?” He asked.

“I… I’m not sure if I could leave Vishkar… even if I wanted to. But if I did, it would be a big risk.” She told him, “And it would mean losing everything I’ve worked so hard for…”

“Tha’ sounds more loike a gamble than a risk.” He said with a broad smile, “But ya know what? I think ya got some damn good odds with all us ‘ere ta help ya.”

“Is that a bet?” she asked, unable to stop herself.

“Yer damn roight it is!” he laughed before closing up his Tupperware and handing it to her, “I bet all me winnin’s on ya kickin’ Vishkar ta th’ curb!”

“I think I will need more than this.” She said, but looked at him, pleased that he had come back to talk to her, “But thank you, Junkrat. For betting on me.”

He gave her a small, surprisingly adorable smile before getting up and planting a small kiss on the top her head, “Anytoime, luv.” He said quietly before getting up and leaving his tea and his winnings behind with a very surprised Architect with a skip in his step.

Satya looked at the ‘bet’ he had made on her and placed her hand on the spot where his lips had touched her, her whole face feeling as if he had lit it ablaze as the spot tingled under her trembling fingers.

… What… what… Just what?

Junkrat ran back to his room, his heart thumping loudly as he finally made it inside and closed the door behind him before dragging himself towards his bed and collapsing on it, his face burning hotter than the last time he set his eyebrows on fire.

Welp, he’d done it. He’d gone in there, told her what he thought and admitted he told a porky (or a lot of them) and kissed her and he was going to fucking kill Hog for this.

“Why don’ we make th’ last bet interestin’?” his fucking arse!

The worst part was, after he went to tell Hog off about the bet, his pot bellied friend replied, “If ya didn’ wanna do it, then why’d ya throw th’ game?”

Because he wanted to do all that anyways but was afraid she’d be really pissed with him and tell him to get stuffed? Because his crush on her was something that made him do really stupid things like touch her when he knew she didn’t like it and how she especially wouldn’t like if it he did it ‘cause he’d get soot everywhere and that his feelings were probably always going to be one sided, not that her stupid company’s policy did him any favors by ‘screening’ potential partners.

Seriously, it wasn’t as if he’d had much of a shot, but did they have to throw that little shitty curve ball to make it to completely crush his dreams and destroy the hope that maybe he could manage to convince her to at least think about giving him a go?

His chest ached in ways that he wasn’t used to as he grabbed at his pillow and rolled onto his side. Ever since Oz went to hell, his life was practically made up of gambles he’d taken. Carefully inspecting risks verses rewards and when he couldn’t really made a decision based on logic, he’d go with his gut. And even though there had been a few hiccups here and there (his missing arm and leg), he’d managed to get here with his best mate and was now living the dream. So, yeah, jackpot.

So hearing that one of the new things he wanted to bet on more than anything he’d had before and hope that she might just give her a chance had the odds unfairly stacked against them because someone else wanted to keep holding all the cards pissed him off.

They held leverage over them using their past ‘good deeds’ to force them to comply, get them used to the lives that they helped them get and threatened them if they considered leaving with their tech.

But luckily for her, there was no way in hell that he’d just stand there with a thumb up his arse while the sheila he was crazy about was being pushed around by these bloody wankers. And he would bet a good portion of his hidden treasure that neither would anyone else here, which was good, because he bet that hard light stuff was complex and the two of them would need all the help they could get figuring out the secret behind making it to stick into a new arm for Symmetra.

Rat felt an impish laugh bubble up in his guts. If they thought he was going to fold than they were in for a real shock. Let them hold their cards and leverage. It wasn’t the first time he’d gone up against shitty odds and bloody cheats, but by the time he was done with them, for Symmetra at least, it would be the last.

After all, all was fair in love and war.

He smiled puckishly and let out a cold laugh, “’N ‘m no strangah ta cheatin’.”

#symmratgiftexchange2018 #writing #oh my goodness this is just so much fun to read! Thank you for participating!

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