Writer's note: I wrote this in honor of National Hug Day that was last week!
"Tammy-" a sing-sang voice chimed behind her.
Tamora knew the tone. It was some sort of special day, but it wasn't their anniversary or her birthday so what was it…
Two short arms encircled her left leg as her tiny husband cuddled up to her. Oh no. Had it been a year already since her first experience with-
"Guess what today is?"
Tamora groaned. "Let me guess."
Felix beamed up at her. "National Hug Day!"
She dreaded to hear those three words. It wasn't that Tamora didn't want hugs from her husband. Felix was the only one she wanted to receive a hug from. But it was every one else in the arcade that she worried about, because Tamora didn't enjoy unwanted affection and for some whacked out reason, many characters in Litwak's arcade loved to take advantage of the day.
"This is the stupidest thing ever contrived," she growled, crossing her arms in aggravation.
"It's not that bad," Felix countered, and gently pulled her down to his level. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled into her neck.
"Well, this isn't." Tamora placed a kiss atop his head, happy to return the affection. It was easier to hug Felix when they were at the same level. Usually she ended up hugging his head when he hugged her leg, and that was just plain awkward to her. Felix didn't seem to mind whenever it happened.
She broke the embrace first, standing again. "It's all those other yahoos that think they can lay their filthy paws me."
Tamora had a feeling someone was going to get their lights punched out before the end of the day. On her way to Hero's Duty, she wore the nastiest scowl she could muster, and thankfully only had to dish out one threat toward Zangief, who almost got his muscled meat hooks on her.
She wasn't so lucky when she arrived in her game. A pair of arms encircled her from behind, armor clinking with hers. Tamora froze for a brief second before she whipped around to smash her helmet into culprit. She wasn't surprised to find Markowski dodging her blow.
"Markowski, what the hell?!"
"Awww, come on, Sarge!" the soldier whined, taking another step back to make a safe distance from the lightning fast fists. "It's National Hug Day and I've gotten a hug from everyone except you."
"I'm not giving you a hug, private," Tamora growled, hoping the threat in her voice would be enough to deter the man.
"But I wanna complete set of hugs and you're the last one I need!"
Markowski looked so pathetic whining about his stupid achievement. Tamora groaned inwardly. "Every single soldier in this game let you hug them?"
"Yes!" He sounded so proud.
Tamora steeled herself for what she was about to do. She must be going soft; mostly Felix's fault, she thought. "Okay, one side hug and that's it."
Markowski's face lite up like a birthday cake. He moved in on her, and Tamora tensed up as he wrapped an arm over her shoulders. She awkwardly stood there as Markowski gave her a squeeze.
A clicking sound caught her attention as snickers followed. Her stomach started to boil when she realized Green had snapped a picture of the momentary lapse of judgement. Tamora pushed Markowski away from her and stomped over to the group of soldiers. "You better erase that on the double, Green!"
"Not gonna happen, Sarge!"
"You tricked me!" she yelled at Markowski.
"It's not Jake's fault," Green explained, "We'd only let the big doof hug us if we could get a snapshot of you two hugging it out. It was worth it!"
Markowski grinned, sheepishly. "Sorry, Sarge."
"That trick just earned you all 100 lapses after work, ladies!"
And with that, Tamora decided for the next National Hug Day, she'd somehow find a way to electrify her armor. That would teach them. If not, her fists were going to be very sore.