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It was one hell of a Christmas party they were throwing at the Watchpoint. As a buddhist Mei didn’t really celebrate Christmas, but she wasn’t about to turn down a chance to blow off some steam and have fun with her friends. She stood with Angela and a plastic cup of punch as they watched Lena and Hana face off against Lucio and Jamison in a tiebreaker match of beer pong. Jack had tried to stop Hana from playing, saying she was underage, but she had pushed back by pointing out that the legal drinking age in Korea was 19, her exact age. Eventually Hana had gotten her way, Jack had flopped onto a couch with a beer and a grumble, and the game had begun.
The girls had started out strong and won the first game rather handily. Hana and Lena were both quick, and Hana in particular possessed an almost supernatural accuracy. The boys were capable: Jamison had more power than finesse, and Lucio was a well-rounded player, but it wasn’t enough to win the first match. Things started to turn in the second game, however. What Jamison lacked in accuracy he made up for in his ability to hold his alcohol, something that the much smaller and younger Hana lacked. She’d grown sloppy, and Tracer hadn’t been able to carry the game on her own.
Now, in the final round, both teams were feeling the effect of several beers apiece, and they were down to one cup each. It was Jamison’s shot. He grinned and licked his lips, closing one eye as he held his ping pong ball up in front of him, wobbling only slightly. Everyone was glued to the game, even Jack watched with interest, but Mei spied two figures that had escaped the group and were standing off in a doorway: Reinhardt and Fareeha’s mother, Ana. Reinhardt was pointing excitedly at a little sprig of leaves and berries that was hanging from the top of the doorway above their heads. Ah, yes: mistletoe, a western custom. Any couple standing under it was supposed to kiss. Mei smiled as Reinhardt bent down and Ana stood up on her toes.
A cheer suddenly rang out from the pong table, and Mei spun around to see Jamison with both arms triumphantly raised as Lucio grabbed him in an exuberant hug. The ping pong ball Jamie had been holding now bobbed cheerfully in the cup on the opposite side of the table. Lena’s shoulders were slumped in defeat, and Hana looked rather green. Mei laughed and cheered with the others, offered reassuring pats where she could, and when she turned to the doorway again Reinhardt and Ana were gone. Her cheeks flushed a little as she considered where they might have gone off to and why.
She downed the rest of her punch, sticky sweet with just the right bite of alcohol, and got another refill to sip on. How many had she had now? She wasn't sure.
“Hail the conquering hero!” Jamison laughed, putting an arm around her and raising a glass in his other hand, “Didja see that last play a’ mine, Snowball?”
“Ha,” Mei scoffed, “you only got lucky. It would have been different if I had been playing.”
“Oh really? ” Jamie grinned, leaning in closer, “Care ta back up that little claim? Oi’ll take ya on right now, Snowflake.”
“Y-yeah right!” Mei stammered back, pushing his arm off of her shoulders as she stepped away from him, “You’re drunk, so... it wouldn’t even be a challenge! Maybe if you were sober.”
“Ha! No way! I get better the more I been drinkin’. Now’s the perfect time ta challenge me.”
“I don't think so-”
“Yes!” cried another voice, booming and jovial, “We will play and I will be your partner!”
Mei turned to find that her eyes were chest-level with Zarya. She tilted her chin up to see the Russian’s grinning face just as she threw her arms around Mei and lifted her off the floor in a massive bear hug. The smell of vodka hung about her in a fragrant miasma.
“Come! We play!” Zarya said brightly as she flat-out carried Mei over to the pong table.
“I- I- I-” Mei protested, but already someone was pressing a ping pong ball into her hand and Bastion was rumbling over with a massive tray of drinks. Within moments, it seemed, the table was set for another game.
Lucio had decided that he’d had enough and would sit this game out, and so Jamison had convinced Mako to take his place. The junkers now stood, poised and ready, across from Mei and Zarya, and the grin on Jamison’s face was positively predatory.
“ Ladies first,” he said with a sweep of his arm and a slight bow.
Mei swallowed and squared her jaw. It was time to prove that she wasn't just talk. She was good at beer pong… back in her university days. There was no way she was going to back down now, though. She could do this; they were going to win. On her honor as a scientist, Mei was going to wipe that smug grin off of Jamison Fawkes’s face. She took a deep breath and held up her ball. Since it was the opening of the game, all of the cups were still in play, so she essentially had one big target to aim for. She just needed to make sure she didn’t throw too hard or the ball would bounce over or out of the cups.
Mei lined up her shot, waving her hand forward and back a few times, then she blew out a breath, the ball left her fingers and-
The ping pong table exploded in a shower of splintered wood and metal. Beer splashed across the wall and floor, even splattering on the ceiling. Mei had the wind knocked out of her as Zarya drove her bodily to the floor, the larger woman shielding Mei with her body.
“Are you alright?” Zarya shouted over the sudden din of gunfire.
“I’m fine,” Mei gasped, “What’s happening?!”
In response a charred hole suddenly appeared in the wall next to them, and a shrill voice cried out, “YOU CHEATED!”
Zarya turned to see where the noise was coming from, and in so doing rolled off of Mei enough that she could see as well. Hana’s bright pink mecha had swerved into the room, guns firing as everyone dove for cover.
“Who the hell let her in that thing drunk?!” Jack snapped as he hunkered down behind the couch.
“You’re a dirty cheater!” Hana wailed as the top of the chair that Jamison was crouching behind erupted in a mess of leather and stuffing.
“Oi am not! ” he shot back, “Yer just a sore loser!”
“I can’t lose!” Hana screeched, “So you must have cheated!”
“That’s terrible logic!” Jamison cried, shielding his head with his arms as more debris scattered from the chair, “Even Oi can see that! And why’re ya only targetin’ me?! Why’s Lucio get a pass?!”
Hana only screamed wordlessly in rage as she continued to bear down on Jamie’s hiding spot. Soon there wouldn’t be much chair left. Someone had to do something, but no one was armed unless you counted…
There was a mechanical bird call as several shots slammed into the side of Hana’s mecha, jarring it sideways a few feet. Bastion lumbered toward her, ready to fire another volley as Hana scrambled to get her mecha righted and facing her attacker.
With the hail of gunfire now off of him, Jamison popped up from behind the chair, and Mei's stomach did a backflip. He had an unhinged grin on his face and a bomb in each hand. Where had he been hiding those?!
“Now this is what I call a party!” he cackled as he leapt into the fray.
Mei scrambled to her feet and called for her drone, Snowball. Things were about to get very interesting...
***
When the dust settled Mei came back to herself on top of something warm and… bony? She opened her eyes and found Jamison staring back at her, their noses almost touching. She could count the freckles on his face from this close. He was sitting awkwardly against the doorframe and Mei had ended up lying in his lap. A bit of a blush colored his face as his breath tickled her cheeks and his eyes darted rapidly between hers.
“Y-ya alright, Snowball?” he stammered, his body tense beneath her like he was afraid to move.
“Yes! Yes! I’m- I’m fine!” she blurted, pushing herself up so she wasn’t quite so close, “I’m sorry I, uh, that I, um…”
“S’alright,” he laughed, “Can’t rightly say I mind, really…”
The deepening blush in his cheeks was just too adorable. She looked away, her own cheeks flushed and hot, so she made a show of checking the aftermath around them. Jesse and Hanzo had appeared together from somewhere and were dragging Hana, kicking and screaming, out of the ruin of her mecha. Genji and Angela were helping Winston to his feet, Jack was picking himself up from the under the remains of the shattered couch with Lucio and Lena’s help, and Torbjörn was checking Bastion over for major damage. Apparently this was the most hilarious thing Zarya had seen in her life, since she was laughing herself silly as Mako gave her a hand up from the floor. Fareeha was only just now arriving through another doorway, apparently having decided to don her full armor first, and Zenyatta was floating serenely after her, urging her to remain calm.
“Well, heh, look where we ended up,” Jamison chuckled quietly, and Mei turned to see him looking at something above them.
She followed his gaze upward to a little sprig of leaves and berries that was somehow still hanging directly overhead. She and Jamison had ended up lying in the doorway underneath the mistletoe.
“Does that mean you want me to…?” Mei trailed off, the spark of something warm and somewhat mischievous lighting in her chest.
Jamison’s fingers twitched, and his eyes said that yes, yes he desperately wanted to kiss her, but instead his mouth said, “Ya been drinkin’, Snowball. Wouldn’t be right.”
“Oh… Well, can I tell you a secret, then?” she said, her voice low.
He raised a bushy eyebrow but said nothing and nodded. Mei motioned for him to get closer, so he turned his head and leaned toward her. She put her lips very close to his ear, letting them brush it a bit as she whispered.
“I’m not that drunk.”
Mei grabbed Jamie’s reddened cheeks and turned his surprised face back to hers, pressing her lips hard against his. It only lasted for a few moments and tasted of beer and gunpowder. His lips were a bit dry, and his long nose was pressing awkwardly against hers, but she wouldn’t have changed that kiss for the world. That little light in her heart spread through her with a thrill until her whole body felt aglow with warmth. Maybe this was a bit of that Christmas magic everyone was always talking about.
She pulled back and opened her eyes. It didn’t seem that Jamison had even closed his. They were wide with shock, his face somehow even redder than before. Mei grinned; it wasn’t exactly what she’d been planning, but she had managed to wipe that smug look off of Jamison’s face. She planted another little peck on the tip of his nose.
“Merry Christmas!” she chirped.