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all-our-turf · 5 days ago

Text

somewhere between the sea and the shore

fluffy warriors beach fic - group shenanigans and swercy fluff!! read under the cut or on ao3

+++++

Swan and Cleon hardly blink when the apartment’s front door slams open, but Cochise nearly spills her cup of tea down her front and Ajax jumps halfway to her feet with a curse as Cowgirl stomps in with Mercy and Rembrandt trailing behind her.

“We have a problem!” Cowgirl declares loudly.

That gets everyone’s attention, and Swan’s eyes instinctively flick over Mercy to check for injuries before surveying the other two, letting out a breath when she doesn’t spot anything visible. The three had been out scouting some of their borders and having Rembrandt redo a few of their tags, and while there hadn’t been any issues with neighboring gangs in a few weeks, the knot of anxiety never really faded.

“What’s wrong? Did you run into trouble?” Cleon rises to her feet to greet the three as they wander further into the apartment, immediately putting her warchief face on, though it quickly crumples into confusion when Cowgirl continues.

“Mercy’s never seen the ocean.” Her voice is still too loud, and she grabs Mercy’s wrist and shakes it slightly as if to prove her point.

Rembrandt chuckles under her breath as she steps past Cleon to fall half on top of Ajax on the couch. Ajax kisses her temple in greeting before looking back to where Cowgirl seems to be waiting for the rest of the gang to be similarly scandalized by this information. Swan tilts her head questioningly at Mercy, who just huffs and rolls her eyes with a helpless shrug.

“We live on Coney Island,” Cleon says slowly, looking between Cowgirl and Mercy. “You can see the ocean from the roof of this building.”

“Yeah, before I joined up with you guys I had never seen it. Obviously I’m familiar with it now, but -”

Cowgirl cuts off Mercy’s explanation by shaking her again. “You haven’t really seen it,” she insists. “Swan’s done a shit job of showing you around!”

“Hey, what the fuck -”

“Cowgirl, just tell them what you wanna do.” Rembrandt interrupts before Swan can protest the claim.

“Cleon, we need to have a day off to go to the beach!” Cleon blinks at her, so Cowgirl keeps talking. “Come on, it’s been way too long since we’ve all just gone down and the weather’s actually nice. We’ve been so busy that we haven’t gotten to just relax and hang together since - well - a while.”

Cowgirl fumbles over her words the way they all still do when referencing that night. It’s been a few months by now, and things have started to return back to normal, but Fox’s absence still weighs heavily over them - the empty spot in the living room where she used to sit, the closed door at the end of the hall that no one opens, the awkward beats of silence where they expect another voice to ring out - Swan suspects they’ve all been making a conscious effort to keep busy to avoid those too quiet moments.

There’s a pause before Cowgirl continues, determined to follow through. “Plus Mercy’s never had a beach day which is fucking insane for someone in a Coney Island gang. I mean, that should be part of initiation.”

“Mercy’s already been initiated.” Swan narrows her eyes, immediately defensive.

“That’s not how she meant it, could you chill the fuck out?” Ajax kicks lightly at Swan’s leg.

“Bitch -”

“I think it’s a good idea!” Cleon decides before Ajax and Swan’s bickering can escalate.

“Fuck yes!” Cowgirl hollers, finally letting go of Mercy’s wrist and moving to instead bother Cochise with her excitement. Mercy wastes no time in finding a spot next to Swan on the couch.

“Really?” Swan raises an eyebrow at Cleon, who nods resolutely, mind already made up.

“Cowgirl’s right -” That gets another excited yell from the woman in question, followed by Cochise’s protests about going deaf if Cowgirl keeps hollering in her ear - ��It’s been too long since we’ve taken a day for ourselves, especially as a group. It’s important that we spend time bonding.”

“Okay, maybe don’t phrase it like that.”

Cleon waves a dismissive hand in response, instead going over to look at the calendar she has hung up on the wall.

“Did you already agree to this?” Ajax shifts to look at where Rembrandt is curled into her side.

Rembrandt gives a noncommittal shrug. “I’m not opposed to a day off. And she kind of has a point that Mercy should get to experience the beach. Without risk of getting shot this time.”

Ajax shifts uncomfortably, her mouth twisting. She still hasn’t quite gotten over the fact that she wasn’t there for the final fight with Luther. After a moment though, she glances up at where Swan is throwing an arm over Mercy’s shoulders on the other end of the couch and Ajax’s expression morphs into something more playful.

“It is kind of ridiculous that Swan hasn’t taken her girlfriend, huh? That speaks pretty poorly of you, birdie.”

Rembrandt bites her lip to hide a smile as Swan glares at Ajax over Mercy’s head, looking like she’s debating whether she wants to get up to wrestle with Ajax. Mercy makes the decision for her by putting a hand on Swan’s chest and pressing her further into the couch.

Swan huffs but lets it happen, opting instead to flip Ajax off. “Shut the fuck up, it’s been a busy couple of months.”

“Wow, can’t even make time for your girl,” Ajax drawls, shaking her head in exaggerated disappointment. Rembrandt has to stifle her laugh into her hand, even as she swats at Ajax in reprimand.

“Ajax, leave her alone. There were more important things for me to learn about in Coney.” Mercy rolls her eyes, pressing her weight further into Swan to once again discourage her from getting up. A smirk suddenly lights Mercy’s face, and Rembrandt is immediately bracing herself for whatever she’s about to say.

“Besides,” her voice lulls suggestively, even as she paints on an innocent smile. “Swan made time for me in other ways.”

“Mercy!”

Ajax throws her head back, cackling as pink blooms over Swan’s face.

“Okay! We can go next weekend!” Cleon declares, turning back around and thankfully saving Swan from the conversation. Cowgirl jumps to her feet and begins to protest, but Cleon silences her with a raised hand. “Don’t start, Cowgirl. I’m meeting the Riffs uptown this weekend and taking Swan with me. The beach can wait.”

Cowgirl pouts for all of a second before she’s sprawling out sideways across Swan and Mercy’s laps and looking up at them with a grin. “It’s fine. Gives me time to take Mercy shopping for swimsuits.”

Mercy giggles, amused with her antics, and reaches out to flick her hat lightly. “Sure, I’m down.”

“Fuck yes!” Cowgirl glances at Swan with a smirk. “We’ll find something sexy enough to send Swan into cardiac arrest.”

Swan shoves Cowgirl off their laps and onto the floor.

“Ow - motherfucker!”

+++++

The day finally rolls around and Cowgirl’s infectious excitement seems to have spread because the Warriors are practically buzzing with energy as they head down the steps of the boardwalk. They make quick work finding a suitable spot to set up camp, laying out towels and chairs under a few umbrellas.

Cowgirl is immediately stripping her outer layers, bouncing on her toes as she waits for the others. “Mercy, you coming?”

Mercy hesitates, eyeing the water before glancing over at Swan, who’s settling into a chair with a book on her lap. Swan looks up and meets her eyes, tilting her head.

“You can go if you want. I’ll join in a bit,” Swan shrugs, trying to get a read behind Mercy’s hesitance. “Rem will keep me company.”

Sure enough, Rembrandt was sprawling on a towel next to Swan’s chair, a sketchbook open in front of her. Rembrandt hums absently in acknowledgement at Swan’s words, distracted by the sight of Ajax tugging her shirt over her head.

Mercy looks at Cowgirl’s expectant face again before sitting in a chair on Swan’s other side. “I’ll go in later, too. Wanna enjoy the view for a bit.”

Cowgirl looks like she’s going to complain, but then Ajax is taking off for the water with Cochise, yelling taunts over their shoulders, and Cowgirl sprints after them. Cleon shakes her head with a laugh, but she heads for the water too.

Mercy shifts to get comfortable in her chair, jumping slightly when Swan’s hand suddenly reaches out and grabs her forearm. She looks up and finds her girlfriend studying her, a furrow between Swan’s brow.

“You okay?”

Mercy flashes a smile. “Yeah. It’s nice here on the shore.”

Swan raises a skeptical eyebrow, but when Mercy doesn’t say anything else she just nods slowly, opening up her book.

Mercy closes her eyes and lets her head fall back against the chair, breathing in the salty air, letting the smell of the ocean overwhelm her senses. The only times she’s been in the sand until now has been in less than ideal circumstances, and while she previously hated the grainy substance getting into her shoes and socks, she thinks she gets the appeal with her bare feet buried under the surface. She hears the distant sounds of the other Warriors shouting and splashing in the water, the slow rhythm of the waves crashing against the shore, the scratch of Rembrandt’s pencil against her paper (now that she’s quit ogling Ajax), Swan turning a page every now and then, and Mercy feels something settle inside of her.

She’s not sure how much time passes - Mercy suspects she might have drifted off at some point - but she startles back to reality at the sound of Swan cursing.

“Ajax, I swear to god I’m gonna kick your ass.”

Mercy blinks her eyes open and finds Ajax leaning over Swan with a wide smirk while Swan presses a hand to her chest to keep her back, her other hand scrambling to mark her page and safely put the book away. Ajax has the decency to wait until the book is inside of Swan’s bag before she shakes her head, spraying water at Swan with a delighted laugh.

“Come on, aren’t Swans supposed to be aquatic birds?”

Swan tackles her into the sand.

Cleon steps around them with an exasperated eye roll, dragging a chair into the sun and sitting down to dry off. She offers Mercy a smile. “Water’s real nice. Ajax got sent to drag the rest of you in.”

Mercy laughs, watching as Ajax and Swan scramble to get the upper hand on each other, sand kicking up around them dangerously close to where Rembrandt is still working on her current sketch.

“Ajax, if you get my sketchbook dirty…” Rembrandt trails off, but the threat lingers anyway and Ajax pauses for long enough that Swan manages to pin her down.

“Alright, alright, fine.” Ajax grumbles, though Mercy is unsure if it’s because Swan got her down or because she doesn’t want to piss Rembrandt off. Swan gives Ajax an extra shove into the ground before rising to her feet, her nose scrunching adorably as she tries to brush the sand from her clothes.

Ajax sits up and looks at Mercy and Rembrandt, the sand practically coating her already wet skin (she somehow doesn’t seem bothered by it). “Seriously though, lets fucking go. Quit being boring and come into the water already.”

Rembrandt huffs, but quickly scribbles out a few more lines before putting her art away and rising to her feet. “Yeah, yeah, we’re coming.”

Swan tilts her head at Mercy, an unspoken question that Mercy answers by standing and tugging her shirt over her head, relishing in the way Swan’s lips immediately part and her eyes go a little wide. Swan steps closer as Mercy finishes stepping out of her shorts and her hands hover over the bare skin of Mercy’s waist.

“Cowgirl might’ve been right.”

Mercy giggles, pressing into Swan’s hands, the touch sending electricity up her spine. She leans forward to whisper, breath hot against her ear in a way that makes Swan shudder. “She doesn’t get any credit, I picked this one out myself.”

“Fuck.” Swan’s voice goes rough.

“I know what you like,” Mercy teases.

“Yo! Hello, you’re in public?”

“Get a room!”

Ajax and Rembrandt’s voices have them stepping away from each other, faces flushed.

Swan glowers at them. “Fuck off, like you two can talk.”

They don’t bother responding, Ajax taking off at a sprint towards the water with Rembrandt clinging onto her back.

Swan and Mercy nearly get distracted again when Swan strips down to her swimsuit, but Cleon loudly clearing her throat brings them back. Swan looks like she’s contemplating ditching the beach all together, but then she catches the way Mercy is staring at the waves and remembers the whole reason they’re here to begin with. She intertwines their hands and tugs Mercy towards the water.

“Wait -” Mercy yanks her to a stop just before they can step in, bottom lip pulled between her teeth.

Swan tilts her head, waiting.

“I -” Mercy swallows, eyes flickering nervously. She clenches her jaw, then finally forces out the words. “I don’t know how to swim.”

Surprise briefly flits across Swan’s face. “Oh.”

Mercy flushes in embarrassment. “It’s just - you know, I’ve never been near the ocean, and my parents weren’t the type to put me in swimming lessons, and this was never going to be a problem but now I live on Coney Island and -”

“Woah, okay.” Swan cuts off her ramble, reaching out to take both of Mercy’s hands in hers. “Baby, it’s okay. It’s not a big deal. I wish you’d said something earlier. Do you not wanna get in the water? We don’t have to.”

“But Cowgirl was so excited. And Ajax -”

“I don’t give a fuck about what the others say, I’ll kick their asses if they try and say shit about it. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, I just -” Mercy gives a helpless shrug, looking at the water before finally meeting Swan’s gaze, hoping her girlfriend will be able to understand what she doesn’t know how to put into words.

Swan seems to come to some sort of conclusion, because she nods and squeezes Mercy’s hands. “Okay. Come on, we’ll take it slow.”

She leads Mercy a little further down the beach from where the others are. Ajax and Rembrandt pause when they notice the other two aren’t following behind them, but Swan looks at Ajax and the two seem to have a silent conversation. Swan cocks her head subtly to gesture at Mercy. Ajax’s gaze shifts to study her, her brow furrowed and Mercy braces herself for Ajax to call out for them to catch up. Instead, the enforcer just nods and turns to continue into the water with Rembrandt.

“Ajax won’t make fun of you for this,” Swan says quietly, like she can read Mercy’s mind. “None of the others will either. I know we get on each other a lot but there’s a line.”

“I know there’s a line but it - this isn’t, like, some trauma thing.”

“Maybe not, but it’s not something you should feel ashamed about. The others won’t make you feel that way.”

Mercy’s quiet for a beat, processing this. “Okay.”

“Come on. Try to jump with the waves.” Swan intertwines their hands again and leads Mercy into the water. She gasps when it finally splashes over her legs, the water colder than she was expecting, but they continue stepping in and the chill fades away. She blinks, watching the way the water moves around her, lapping at her thighs and then stomach. Swan doesn’t let go of her hand, doesn’t even take her eyes from Mercy’s face, watching for any flicker of uncertainty and delighting in the wonder she finds there instead.

Swan pauses once the water reaches her shoulders - Mercy’s a little taller than her so it’s only at her chest - and watches as Mercy gets used to jumping with each wave. Panic flashes across her face briefly and she tightens her grip on Swan’s hand when the water rises up enough that her toes are just barely scraping the sand, but after the first few times it stops being so scary.

Mercy beams at Swan, a bright, excited grin stretching across her face, and Swan can’t resist darting forward to kiss her.

They linger there for a moment before Swan reaches down and grabs Mercy’s thighs, lifting her up to carry her. Mercy makes a quiet noise of surprise, but her arms come up to wrap around Swan’s shoulders and her legs tighten around Swan’s waist.

“We’re gonna go deeper, okay? Don’t let go.” Mercy nods and Swan carefully heads further out, walking at first and then floating once the water gets deep enough. “Hold your breath.”

“What?!” Mercy’s voice comes out a little more panicked - and louder - than she means it to, and Swan winces, squeezing her waist gently in reassurance.

“I’m gonna dip us under for a second.” Mercy doesn’t look reassured. “Trust me, okay? It’ll feel nice, just close your eyes and hold your breath.”

Mercy hesitates for a moment, but Swan offers her a soft smile so she nods and inhales. Swan waits for her to finish taking in air before letting them slip underneath the cool water. The world goes quiet around them, and for a beat all Mercy can feel is the warmth of Swan’s body in front of her. She tightens her grip, leaning her head forward to rest on Swan’s shoulder and relaxing into her hold.

After a few seconds, Swan brings them back up and brushes Mercy’s wet hair back from her face, thumb smoothing gently over her eyelids to brush away the water. Mercy opens her eyes after catching her breath and finds Swan gazing at her with the softest, most adoring look she’s ever seen on her girlfriend’s face.

“Good?”

Mercy responds by tugging Swan into another kiss. The waves lap gently at her back, rocking them up and down in a soothing motion, and Mercy feels her body melt into Swan’s.

“I think I like the ocean,” she mumbles, pulling back so their foreheads rest together.

“Yeah? Me too. We’ll have to start coming back more often. I’ll teach you how to swim.” Swan’s smile shifts for a moment, twisting into something more troubled. “I’m sorry I didn’t think to bring you earlier.”

“Is this because of Cowgirl and Ajax giving you shit about it last week?”

“They had a point. I haven’t really taken you out of the apartment for anything other than gang business lately.” Swan gave a sad shrug. “It hadn’t even occurred to me that you might want to experience the beach for the first time.”

“We’ve both been busy, I love the time we spend together just curled up in bed, it’s okay -” Mercy tries to say, but Swan just shakes her head.

“It’s not. I feel like I’ve spent so much time these past few months obsessing over what happened or - or worrying about the future Cleon is trying to build that I’m hardly paying attention to what I have in front of me now. That’s not fair to you.”

Mercy reaches forward and cups Swan’s face, forcing her to stop avoiding her gaze. “Baby, it’s okay. These past couple months haven’t been easy on anyone, and I know how much pressure you put on yourself as number two. Despite that you’ve still managed to be there for me, you - you gave me this new life, Swan. I don’t need you to take me out on cliche romantic outings to know how much you love me.”

The corner of Swan’s mouth ticks up in a smile at that. “I do. Love you, I mean.”

“I know. I love you, too.” Mercy smiles, running her fingers along Swan’s jaw. “Besides, you’re here with me now, aren’t you? Thinking about anything other than what’s in front of you?”

Swan shakes her head. “No. Right now I’m not thinking about anything other than how beautiful you look.”

Mercy beams at that, her face flushing pink in a way that she definitely can’t blame on the sun. “More than beautiful?”

“Yeah. More than beautiful,” Swan echoes, and Mercy falls in love with her all over again.

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