There would be need for reinforcements. Reinforcements that weren't Roadhog.

Who in this team liked him? And who, that liked him, liked animals as well?

Roadhog could not be trusted. Even though he was very lenient with most of the things he allowed Junkrat to do, he'd made it very clear that he didn't want to get in trouble with the goody two shoes. And this meant that he would give away his animals before he helped him store them.

McCree was also dangerous. Even though he was one of the more understanding and sympathetic members of the team, he still followed most of the rules to a 't'. And even though he kind of liked Junkrat, he still wasn't too much of a fan. Especially because he didn't enjoy the explosions he so truly loved.

The likes of most of the women in this place were all out of the picture. They had made their dislike of Junkrat and his more... Uh... Ripe smell more than clear. And the only ones that put up with him were the Hana chick and; surprisingly enough; Symmetra. But even though they were much less spiteful, they still weren't too be trusted, for they were also goody two shoes.

Then... Which of the guys could do it? The main boss man was out. Just like Reaper, the unsympathetic jerk had made his hate for him more than clear enough... Torbjörn was cool enough and even allowed him to enter his workshop to mess with a few trinkets, but he looked like the kind that would throw a dog outside in the rain before he helped them. Reinhardt may have been the only other person to help him, but he was gong on a mission with him.

Junkrat forced his mind to work and ponder on who might be willing to help him. Then, with a bright smile and a jump up in the air that caused all four of his animals to startle, he cheered.

"Lucio, that bleedin' heart bloke!"

The Brazilian was one of the most sympathetic and kindhearted fools he'd ever met. If he'd lived in Australia, the poor bloke wouldn't have survived more than a year. But in the more civilized areas of the world, he was apparently a 'pure treasure worth protecting'; not his words. It had been one of the bastard Omnics to say that. Not sure which. Not like it mattered, truly. He liked none of them.

If he told that man about how the animals under his care would undoubtedly be thrown out by their commander if told about them, then Lucio may just help him to keep them hidden. Especially if he got the man to fall in love with them...

He would have to leave on his mission in a week.

So he had a few days to seduce Lucio into going along with his plan.

Simple enough.

~/~

Day 1:

Junkrat began his day like he normally would. By stealing some breakfast from the ever kind old woman with the eyepatch, whom had no problem with sharing food with him and the rest of the younger operatives of Overwatch. Then he had taken Hana and the fast chick's cut cut of the food so he could take them to his animals. But he had promised the old cook that he would be taking the girls' along with Lucio's food to them.

The only one to be seeing the food the older woman had so lovingly made would be the sucker.

After he had finished up feeding his four beautiful critters and made sure they had enough water to last the day, Junkrat made his way over to Lucio's bedroom. And with a hasty knock to the other's door, he began to fidget and wait. After a few seconds, the dark skinned man opened the door and looked at him with confusion clear on his face.

"Junkrat? What are you doing here?"

He wasn't surprised to find that Lucio was confused. And all he did was smile broadly and offer him the plate of food made by Ana.

"Thought we could get ta know each other, Froggy Legs!" Lucio looked at him a suspicious eyebrow quirked, which prompted Junkrat's smile to broaden. "The old sniper made the food. Said we should play nice an' whatnot."

Not a total lie. Not totally honest either. Ana wanted them to play nice. And had told him to be nice before. But she hadn't said it today. No, on that day she had reminded him to not blow too many places up if he didn't want Winston on his arse.

"Are you feeling alright, Junkrat?" Lucio had questioned, which had then gotten the blonde to nod and shove the plate of food into his chest and force him to grab it.

"Feelin' ace! Now, got any plans fo' the day, mate?"

And so he forced his way into Lucio's life and forced him to become his friend.

Day 2:

After a good day of making Lucio his friend and having him laugh and warm up to him, Junkrat knew that he was making good progress. The man loved stories about the pets Junkrat 'used to have' and said many of his own from when he was still a child. Sure, the stories Junkrat said were all from the pets he had now, but Lucio didn't have to know that. Especially because he had been smart and told him fake names.

The older members of Overwatch were confused as to why he suddenly wanted to befriend the other male. Especially Roadie. But they were more than glad to see him actually trying to not piss people off every second of the day, so they did not question him. Even though Roadhog did warn against him trying to use any explosives while Lucio was around.

Apparently, it would not be smart to blow the musician up... Not like Junkrat had any idea to do so. He was much too busy trying to bring him into his evil plans of keeping his animals around to even think about that.

Right now they found themselves inside of one of the practice fields, having decided to go there to try and avoid the ever hyperactive women that seemed to have decided that Lucio was their little plaything.

"They always want to mess with my hair and put makeup on me!" The dark skinned male whined softly, all the while he helped set up the dummies they would be shooting at.

"You let yourself, dumbass!" Junkrat exclaimed with a quick roll of his eyes, grabbing his favorite, smiley faced helmet to place it on top of one of the dummies' heads. "Bottle your blood's worth too much an' too often an' you'll get yer arse beat in like a true pansy!"

At the purely Australian phrase, Lucio cocked his head with clear confusion. And Junkrat sighed softly before explaining himself, "Bein' helpful an' nice. Do it too much an' they'll began ta expect more an' more from ya." Then he shook his head before moving back to grab his gun for target practice. "Why do ya think I'm such an outright bastard? That way don't no one expect me ta actually be nice."

"Yeah, but you're a jerk a lot, dude. You could stand to be nicer."

"An' ya could stand ta be less nice." Junkrat smiled toothily, then pointed towards the row of dummies they had set up. "Bet I destroy more than ya."

Day 3:

Lucio seeked him out this time around. And when Junkrat opened the door to his and Roadhog's room (seeing how he had taken to sleeping there in the case Lucio wanted to find him at some point; call it wishful thinking, it had still worked), he found that the man was fidgeting just slightly.

"Uh... Want to go ahead and get some breakfast, Junkrat?" The man asked, smile somewhat awkward as Roadhog's thundering footsteps resounded around the room before the large man appeared behind Junkrat's lithe frame. "I know how you told me you don't really cook too much... And I was kind of thinking that... Well... Uh..." He stuttered for a moment, then sighed out and raised a hand to scratch shyly at the back of his head, "Maybe I could teach you some simple dish?"

Junkrat had never truly learned how to cook. Roadhog had busied himself with all of that when he'd found that he was almost unteachable after he'd almost blown half of them up back in the Outback. And before that, he'd taken to scavenging and eating whatever he could find, no matter if it was raw or not.

But... This was a good way to continue to hang out with Lucio. And this must be a great big step forward towards their friendship because it had been Lucio to seek him out and not the other way around.

After a moment of pondering whether he should or not with Roadie's breath coming down his neck, the Australian shrugged and relented, "Why not? Better 'an havin' a dingo's breakfast."

Lucio had broken out into a broad smile with that. Then he'd motioned for Junkrat to follow and quickly ushered him into the kitchen.

And as they prepared the extremely simple breakfast dish known as scrambled eggs, Junkrat couldn't help but roll his eyes whenever a new person entered the kitchen to find that he was there cooking.

Apparently, none of them had thought he was capable of something as constructive as making food. So surprised that Hana had gasped in shock and asked if his brain had been switched with someone else's or something of the like.

The damned stickybeaks...

Day 4:

They were supposed to have gone on a quick supply run for the base. Ana, Reinhardt, Hana, and McCree all accompanied them. And while Lucio and Junkrat traded quips with Hana and McCree, the two much older members kept a complacent distance from them.

"Yuh young'uns... Makin' me feel old." McCree chuckled after a particularly haughty round of laughter from the younger members, which made them all smile brightly at him.

The more he spent around Lucio, the more he came to like the other members of Overwatch. Especially Hana and McCree. The gamer was perfect for trading insults. And the cowboy could give just as good as he received. And, slowly but surely, Junkrat was making a jerk out of Lucio!

"Don't worry, grampa. You've still got a few good years left in you!"

The man rolled his eyes at the young woman's insult, then looked back at the two older members when Ana called out for him. Then Hana was called on as well.

And when both of them were busy paying attention to whatever it was the woman was talking about, a pet shop caught Junkrat's eye.

Without any kind of hesitation, the Australian made his way towards the shop. And Lucio followed with curiosity piqued, apparently wondering what the other man was doing heading there.

Once inside, Junkrat was left fascinated by all of the different animals he found. He went from one display to another, eyes wide and fingers twitching in excitement. So many different animals! So beautiful and wonderful! He wanted them all!

But his eye was truly caught by the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen before. Tiny, fuzzy, chubby, and with a hairstyle that looked so much like a stylized mohawk that he reminded the male of a man that had once tried to kill him.

And he seemed to have red tips at the ends of its long hair!

"I'll name it Aussie!"

"Huh?" Lucio came up from behind him to look down at the animal, then questioned, "You want to adopt a guinea pig?"

"Yup!"

"But there are rules against animals at the base, Jamie."

Turning a broad smile towards his friend, Junkrat winked at him, "Rules are meant ta be broken, my good friend."

Day 5:

Today was the day. With his newest acquisition in his hand while Kookaburra swatted lazily at her, Junkrat waited for Lucio to arrive.

He'd told the man everything as he'd adopted the small animal. And then he'd hidden her inside of his satchel, much like he had done with Kookaburra, to bring her into base without any of the other members finding out.

Lucio had been left stunned by finding out how much of an animal lover he was. But he'd quickly promised to stay quiet if he was allowed to see the animals as soon as possible.

Three quick knocks on the door, then two slower ones. The sign as to Lucio having arrived.

When he opened the door, he found Lucio looking behind him as if he were being followed. But when the man looked back to find him with Aussie in his hands, all worry seemed to leave him. Especially when he found Kookaburra perched up on his shoulder.

"You weren't lying." Lucio gasped softly as he looked at the dirty cat, then a bark took up his attention. "Dogs too?!"

He ran in after that. And Junkrat closed the door behind him with a small smile. He had seen the look in Lucio's eyes when he'd heard the dog. There was no doubt about it. His little critters would be well taken care of while he was out on his mission. And it had taken him less than a week to get the perpetually wide eyed male to help him out.

And having a fifth critter added into the mix sure hadn't hurt at all.

..~..~..

Thank you very much, JurassicDork, for the idea for Junkrat's newest pet! I loved it and used it! Hope you all liked this chapter! Please review!