"Well. It seems now we are both in dog house."

Zarya was, to both of their surprises, the first one to speak. Junkrat was too busy staring dumbfounded after Mei's retreating figure, until even his keen night vision could no longer make her out and she was truly gone. A distressed little gurgling noise was the only sound he could seem to wrest from his throat, while the larger woman next to him wiped at some of the crusted blood below her nose before she sighed and folded her massive arms.

"I hate it when she is mad at me," she said, sounding surprisingly resigned. "She can hold massive grudge for weeks."

The verbal dam holding back the junker's words finally seemed to break, and they came out as a torrent. "Ya think I don't know it, russki?! Oh, this is bad. This is real bad. It's over, ain't it? I've come a gutser." He dragged both hands down his swollen and battered face, black nails digging into his bruised cheeks. "It's like you said, she can hold a grudge. But this is more'na grudge. She ain't gonna forgive me, is she? This isn't like those other times, like when I leave the toilet seat up or forget when the mission dates are or when I put that confetti bomb in her undies drawer. She's mad as a cut snake! This is gonna be Goodnight Irene!"

"Er," Zarya frowned at him unsurely, unable to really keep track of his rapid train of thought or his Australian slang. "…Yes?"

"I knew it! And not just her, they're gonna come take away me best mate too! Gonna take him away, reprogram him in the head. Not gonna let 'em! I knew we'd have to scarper even from this place, one of these days! Don't worry, Roadie, I'm gonna get you outta here even if I gotta roll your big arse the whole way through." He limped over towards one of the messy shelves, heavily favoring his right side with the ribs he still wasn't sure were broken or not. They felt broken. It hurt to breathe, but there were more important things to worry about. Like pulling out a battered brown suitcase from under it and starting to shove seemingly random bits and pieces of metal and tools into it. "I knew goin' legit was never going to work. What about Mei, though? Ya know what, w-we can grab her too. Swing by, grab her up. She'll be mad at first, but she'll understand! She's real good at understandin', eventually. It'll be like old times. We'll grab her and go, head out on our own again."

Zarya rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers in clear exasperation. "Are you suggesting in front of me, that you are going to kidnap my friend after almost killing her already?"

Junkrat guffawed, pausing from shoving things into his get-away kit. "Well, when you say it like THAT it sounds a little harsh!" He thought for a moment, tapping at his pointed chin. "Okay…I'm startin' to think that things might have gotten a bit away from me, here."

"You could try saying sorry, if you even know the concept. That is what good people do. But then, you would not know, you are not good people. I do not know why she tolerates junkers like you," she sneered down at him. "Talking of kidnapping her when you should be groveling for forgiveness?"

There was a low moan from Roadhog, who shuffled beneath the layers of chains around him. Junkrat tilted his head to the side, brightening slightly. He snapped his mechanical fingers, a spark popping between the metal digits. "Groveling! That's an ace idea. Who can stay mad at a grovelin' rat, right? That'll melt her frozen heart for sure! Here, sounds like Roadie's starting to wake up. Uh. Well, you already proved you won't rat on us, even if that's mostly because you're a bit of a fuckhead. Anyhow, the chains should hold and you're a brick shithouse, you stay here just in case he tries to get out again. You can take him, right? I'll go after Mei!"

"No you don't!"

She lunged, but the junker slipped right out of her grasp like a wriggling fish, somehow managing to vault up and out of her arms in a wiggle of limbs and a customary storm of cackling. She may have been able to best his frenzied bodyguard and there was no doubting her strength, but strength mattered little when trying to hold onto Junkrat and was like trying to wrestle with a greased-up weasel. Before she could try again, he was already out the door, laughing and flailing his way out into the night. With a low curse under her breath, she righted herself against the door frame and almost moved to follow him. But the rattle of chains behind her made her pause. Roadhog was trying to move again, thrumming a low baritone noise as his massive arms strained at his bindings. She tensed, sending one last glare after Junkrat before resolutely slamming her hand onto the door controls. They bolted shut with a mechanical whir and the clank of its locks, and she stared the enormous junker down from across the room.

The irritating rat man was right about one thing, at least. This Roadhog could not be allowed to get loose, and she was the only one able to stop him. At least until Mei would no doubt be bringing the cavalry to both handle the transgressions of the junkers, and for her to be chastised and punished for being foolish enough to ever get involved.

The beast in the pig mask was looking at her. The dark, blank lenses may have hidden his eyes and whatever else lay beneath, but she knew he was looking at her. She saw the faint movement of his fingers down by his sides, sinew and bone tightening and clenching into a fist that was no doubt locked around her neck in whatever dark thoughts such a man must have harbored inside all that silence. She lifted her chin, merely stepping forward and staring down at him without fear, gaze narrowed.

"So, svin'ya. Now it is just you and me…"

***

Junkrat scampered across the dark base, the metal clatter of his peg leg obnoxiously loud as he made his way through the common areas and towards the dorms. He was more than relieved to see that Mercy's clinic area remained dark. Maybe he still had time to change her mind before she woke everyone up and set the whole damn base against his best friend. He was less heartened to see that she really had been bleeding more severely than he'd thought, and a pang of uncharacteristic guilt rippled through him when he saw there were drips and splotches of red that marked her trail all the way down the halls towards her little room. Perhaps it was a good thing he'd come to check on her after all.

The sharp rap of metal against metal rattled her doors. There was no answer at first, and his next knock was a bit more frantic, leaning up against it to whisper a loud, rasping "Mei! Mei, you arroight in there?"

There was the very muffled sound of a beep within, and a moment later the door whooshed open in front of him. She had made an attempt to scrub away the blood from her head wound, though her pajama shirt was still sopped with dark liquid on one side, and she was holding a baggie of ice to her temple. She didn't seem surprised to see him, but didn't seem particularly happy about it either. When she spoke, her voice was still cold and dangerously formal. "…Mr. Fawkes."

So he'd been relegated back to the icily polite use of his last name. Owch. At least with his newly mangled features, it wasn't hard to disguise his wince. He managed a lopsided grin, waving both dirty hands. "Don't worry! I ain't here to kidnap you or anything nefarious!"

She squinted at him. "Where's Zarya?"

"Left her back with Hog. Figured she could beat him up again if he tried to get out. Clever, eh? Are you, uh, you feeling all right?" He took a quick puff of breath, tentatively reaching out towards her ice bag. "Lemme see it? Maybe I could help w-"

She moved back from his grasp. "No. No, I'm not feeling all right. I'm still mad at you. And someone I thought was my friend tried to kill me."

"Could ya…not be mad at me? Actually, okay. You can be mad at me, but not at Roadie, that ain't his fault!"

"And someone else decided that he this was a situation where nobody needed to interfere, and he almost died too," she said, staring him down.

"I arready said I was sorry!"

"No you did not, Jamison Fawkes! You never say you're sorry. And I've gotten used to that. But even a sorry isn't going to fix this. This…I can't just ignore this." Her voice went to a sudden high pitched almost-snarl, before quickly shushing herself and looking down the hall to make sure they weren't overheard. She lifted a hand to her face wearily, looking torn. "I'm going to change into some fresh clothes, and then I'm going to see Dr. Ziegler. She'll know what to do."

Junkrat's eyes widened. He reached out again, and again she pulled away. "Ya can't! Ya can't do this to us, darl. This was all…This was all just an accident. Bad things happened to Hog. I dunno what, but they were bad and sometimes they get to him and for a while he ain't himself. But that ain't his fault. It ain't never his fault. I don't get mad at him for it, just like I don't get mad at you for what happened to you. Just because Hog gets mad and punches at things, and you stare off into the nothing and cry, that ain't your faults. I'll help you both!"

She looked a little more pained, but he couldn't tell if it was the head wound or frustration of their little spat. "Jamison, this isn't helping. I know you think you're helping, but you can't do this. Mr. Roadhog doesn't need to be chained and locked up, he needs help. Dr. Ziegler can-"

"Doc Angelface don't understand. She's not a junker. But Hog's my best mate. The only one I got. And I'm not gonna let this place reprogram my only best mate's brainmeats. Or mine. I know you don't think much of that, but s'truth. Yeah, see, I know that little side-eye you give me sometimes. You think I don't know the radiation's cooked my nut, and my nuts?" He tapped the side of his scraggly head, then made a lewd gesture downward. "I know ya think we're crazy! Fockin' 'ell, I know we are crazy!"

Mei was quiet for a long minute, gaze slipping down to the floor and the little smears of blood puddled beneath them. "I've…I've never said that…"

"But we ain't something to be fixed. You can't fix everything, love. I know you try, but you can't."

Anger and frustrating was starting to win out again, and he could see tears gathering in the corner of her eyes, even as they narrowed at him and her voice quavered. "I'm not saying you're just some crazy person to be fixed. And neither is Mr. Roadhog. I don't want you to think that that's how I see you. Please, I just…I don't want this to be happening. We can tell the doctor. It's not reprogramming or fixing, and it might save both your lives, and maybe my life, and your teammates' lives. It's just helping! We just want to help you!"

He was about to snap back some retort when she pulled the ice pack away from her head. Blood matted her hair, and he could see the deep bruises and gashes in her head where Hog's spiked and armored fist had thrown her across the room like she was nothing. His reply died away and he reached out to her again, this time to touch his fingertips to the wound. She grimaced at even the lightest pressure, quickly replacing the numbing ice.

"We both need to see the doctor anyway," she said softly. "I'm fairly sure I have a concussion and you…Jamison, look at yourself in the mirror. You're hurt. You're really hurt and he almost killed you in front of me. And I couldn't stop him. Neither of us could stop him. If Zarya hadn't arrived when she did, who knows what he was capable of? He could have woken up after accidentally killing us both."

"Nah, wouldn't have let him hurt ya! I mean, this time…he…" He glanced to the bloody ice bag, trailing off before trying again. "Hey, we both been through worse, yeah? And you. Maybe you can help me. And I guess that purple-haired bint since she knows too. She can be our muscle, fightin' the other muscle. We had a little accident here, but-"

"Jamison, your face is broken in several places and you're missing at least one tooth!"

He waved both arms in the air. "-An accident here or there! But what's a tooth or two between mates? We can prepare better next time. More chains, more traps, mebbe pilfer some more of Ana's darts…That's a good idea, ain't it Mei? Me and you, we're helping him together. That way I don't have to do anything ridiculous, like choose between ya!"

Her brows furrowed. "W-we can't do that, Jamie. I'm trying to tell you, we can't do that. I know what you're trying to say, but we have to do the right thing and get help. And why would…" She seemed a little choked up suddenly, but Junkrat attributed it to her head wound. Head wounds were strange, maybe it was giving her a snotty nose. "Why would you think I'm asking you to choose between us? Are you…already choosing between us?"

Alarms were starting to go off between his ears, and he thought back to Zarya's words. Grovel like a good person. Maybe groveling would work. So he dropped down to one knee as gallantly as possibly, though he wobbled slightly on the squeaky-jointed upright peg and held one arm aloft to her, babbling aloud, "No! No, see, I don't wanna have to choose between my best girl and my best mate! That's a hell of a place to be, isn't it? So we're not gonna do that, are we? Did I say I'm sorry yet? You said I never say I'm sorry? I'm sorry, Mei. I'm real sorry about what happened, and I won't let it happen again. He don't mean it. I'll take the blame. That's good, right? Come on, darl, I'm sorrying my arse off here, what can I do to make it better?"

His attempts at an apology seemed to be having the opposite effect. She lifted her other hand to her head almost to clutch it in seeming chagrin as she looked down at him. "Wǒ bùnéng zhèyàng zuò… I can't…I have to do this. I have to do things the right way, even if Mr. Roadhog hates me for it, even if you…."

"No…Darl, no, it's gonna be okay. You said you wanted to help? You can still help!" He pressed his metallic hand to his chest, still wobbling a bit on his bent peg. "I'm sorry and that's good, right? You and me, we can figure out anything. We'll think of something together, yeah?"

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to make you understand and…I can't…"

"No! No, you can! We can!" He was staring to sound a little more desperate than he would have liked. This was not working as well as he'd hoped. Maybe he wasn't groveling in the right way. Maybe he needed to get on both knees, and beg her like he'd begged for his life so many times before. "Roadie's gonna be back to his old self by the time we get back. I'll make some tea, we can talk it over like real civilized legit folks do, yeah? We don't need to bring the damn monkey or his bureaucrats into things. Look, I know your head hurts real bad right now but it'll all look brighter in the morning. I'll take care of you. Swear it, I'll do anything for you."

She wouldn't look at him. Why wouldn't she look at him? And why did that hurt even more than his bruised jaw and broken ribs? She kept staring at the floor, at that one little puddle of brownish-red. "Jamie, please…"

"I was just talking. Earlier, when I said that rot about choosing between you and Hog. It was nothing! You know me, I just say things, I got a gob on me a mile wide. Verbal diarrhea! Sorry, sorry, I know you don't like the word diarrhea. I'll be more careful with things, love, promise you. No. No, please don't cry. Is it your head hurtin'? I got painkillers and Roadie's hogdrogen huffers back at the garage. No? You worried about Russki? She's fine. Hell, I'm more worried about Hog in that case. Er. Is it because I'm all beaten about? It don't hurt much, I'll be healthy as a brumby in no time at all." He scratched at his tufted hair, mind racing. "Whatever it is, we'll figure it out. Between you and me, we always figure it out. We go together, you and me…b-because we…"

She meant too much to him. He was certain it must have been love, or at least what he could understand of it from the songs on the radio and how reverently it was spoken of in the theater. It was something that didn't exist back in the wasteland he'd clawed his way out of, but he knew that if it was what he thought it was, it would be her. Everything about her made his heart scream at the thought of losing her. He needed to tell her that this couldn't end things between them, what he would do to keep her. How badly he wanted and needed her by his side for whatever time they both had left, how much he loved her smile and her little laughs and even her angry pouty faces, all the times he'd spent going over every moment of them getting to know one another, trying not to forget a single thing, how he could lay in bed next to her and revel in the soft touches of her body until he died. How he couldn't even envision life never being able to make love to her again, or go back to a life without her.

The words he wanted to say turned backwards and ran into one another and jumbled up on his tongue, bubbling and spewing out of his mouth like crude oil out of a broken pipeline before he could do anything to stop them. "B-because I can't imagine not being able to fuck you!"

Time seemed to screech to an abrupt halt. Mei's jaw dropped open as she finally looked at him. She seemed stunned, expression blanking as the two of them stared at one another. In his head, Junkrat could hear the pieces dropping all around him, little metallic noises as everything fell apart. It all broke at once, pieces of words and feelings laying shattered all around him, rolling about his feet and falling into the holes in his brain. He stared back at her, his eyes drifting apart slightly, before he could rally enough to try and make sense of the hopeless mess inside his head. "Wait! That's not what I m-"

With shock still written all over her features, she slammed the door in his face.