Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

So yeah, this prompt was Hot Chocolate. I might not do all 31 prompts, but there are a few I want to do and I might change them up. If you have any suggestions for a winter prompt or a couple or even a character you want me to focus on tell me and I might consider it. (Might!)

Anyway I hope you enjoy this one. I thought it would be nice to write another Gironatsu one shot since I got my start in the sgt frog fanfiction community writing Gironatsu one-shots. Here you are.

Apologies btw for my description of chocolate, I don't know if it's accurate because I myself can't taste chocolate anymore.

He wasn't used to hot chocolate. It wasn't a drink he liked or enjoyed. Giroro's mouth was much more used to the ashen taste of the air after a gun had been fired off, or the succulent dripping flesh of meat.

But he was much too cold to be picky now, and he wasn't about to reject a warm drink when it was offered. After all he might require the warm nutrients to survive the winter. His platoon mates might have thought the snow was nice but he knew it was a life or death exercise.

I'll have to stomach this disgusting stuff if I want to live. Giroro reminded himself.

He hadn't yet been offered the hot chocolate. Instead he had been huddled next to his fire for warmth. Natsumi, Fuyuki and Keroro had all asked him countless times to come inside, but he was much stronger than that. He could beat the weather. He was a warrior after all, even if he might be a stupid one.

"You putting yourself in an unnecessary survival situation again?" Natsumi asked with annoyance, sliding the glass door open and leaning against the wall. Despite the winter weather she didn't look that cold since she was half-way inside. And she was forever stunningly beautiful in Giroro's eyes.

Giroro grinned, putting on an act to pretend he wasn't shivering. "A pekoponian like you wouldn't understand. Instead you'd take what you have for granted and rely on modern convinces to keep you warm..." He was about to go into a lecture, but Natsumi just laughed at him.

Giroro's eyes widened in shock. Why was she laughing? He was looking cool! Mysterious even, like that tough lone wolf that girls were always talking about!

"That just sounds like rationalization for your stubbornness to not come inside. Don't blame me if you freeze to death." She wiped away some tears.

Giroro frowned. "I won't freeze."

Natsumi rolled her eyes, "Sure you won't. I totally believe that willpower can beat nature itself. Anyway I didn't come out here to convince you to sleep indoors like Fuyuki and the stupid frog are doing, I just wanted to know if you wanted some hot chocolate. I made some extra and I thought you could use some from the cold weather."

Giroro thought for a moment. Did he want to accept the enemies help? "I don't like hot chocolate." He told her. But the warm liquid might be useful to his thermos. It might also heat his belly to help him get through the night. "Too much sugar."

Natsumi shrugged. "Suit yourself then. I guess I'll offer it to Mois-"

Giroro frowned. He had planned to reject it and have Natsumi beg him to have some. But she was just giving up. "Well, I suppose I could try yours, Natsumi. I don't like sugar but it would be interesting to experience pekoponian culture. Bring it out here-"

"You can come inside to drink it. I've poured it in a tea cup." Natsumi smiled. Giroro had the weakest will power ever.

Giroro nodded, reluctantly agreeing.

The tea cup was porcelain, in a big mug. If the drink itself wasn't sugary enough, Natsumi had assured that it was even more sugary by topping it with whipped cream and cinnamon. But that didn't matter to him. What mattered was that Natsumi was sitting across from him on the couch, sipping slowly from her own cup.

"Tell me what you think. The stupid frog said he could make it better and I think he's trying now. But I personally think my recipe is greater than anything he could come up with." Natsumi's eyes twinkled.

Giroro swallowed. His mouth tasted like ash, he had the constant smell of gunpowder in his nose. There was no way he could properly taste this hot chocolate. And even if he did he didn't like sugary things. He wasn't anything like Tamama, it just wasn't his thing.

He didn't take his cup nearly as daintily as Natsumi had. Instead he grabbed it with both his hands and downed a gulp. The chocolaty liquid coated his tongue in this rich creamy flavor that wasn't as thin as water and not as thick as split pea soup. It tasted sweet, creamy and rich.

"You made this?" Giroro asked, licking his lips for a moment.

"Yes!" Natsumi smiled, "D-do you like it?" She asked it almost shyly, knowing that if Giroro liked something sugary than it was probably amazing.

"Its not bad." He told her the honest truth. Still tasted way to sweet for him, he desired a more bitter flavor, but he had come here for the warmth, and to a lesser extent Natsumi's company. Not because it tasted good. And at least it didn't have curry in it.

Natsumi made a relieved little smile. She was pleased with his response. And in turn, Giroro's smile grew from her happiness.

Maybe this hot chocolate thing isn't so bad. He thought to himself.

Giroro considered himself a mature and responsible adult. He was tough and could rationalize choices. And he didn't like the hot chocolate particularly that Natsumi made.

However, he did like her smile when he had critiqued her. And he absolutely adored eating with her. So he sought out the hot chocolate again.

"You know, I can taste test your recipes for you, your hot chocolate ones if you want." Giroro suggested with a shrug. "I could use the warmth anyway."

"I thought you didn't like sugary things though. Or baking, or chocolate." She pointed out. Giroro frowned.

"I'm developing a sweet tooth for your hot chocolate." He confessed a simple white lie. And Natsumi squealed in delight at the small victory.

Seeking out one hot chocolate easily turned into two, then spiraled into three. Eventually he was constantly trying to figure out little excuses to be in the house and ask Natsumi if she had any hot chocolate left.

"I think he's developing an addiction." She gossiped to Fuyuki one day. "I mean, why else would he be here? And his excuses to have more hot chocolate aren't even that good...But I'm happy to make him some if he wants." It was just that Keroro had taken his loss with less than dignity- he had thrown a giant temper tantrum that Angol Mois and Tamama had had to calm him from. And now Natsumi was tired of making hot chocolate all the time.

So she switched her recipe of hot chocolate for just store bought instant hot chocolate. She expected Giroro to be able to tell the difference, to call her out on it and then she could talk to him about his hot chocolate addiction problems.

But no such thing happened.

Giroro had never liked the hot chocolate. He couldn't tell the difference between the different flavors of chocolate. He wasn't what one would call a chocolate connoisseur. So when the mixtures were swapped it was just still chocolaty water to him.

The one reason he was still coming into the house to get hot chocolate was to drink it with Natsumi, to talk to her and see her smile. I wonder...Giroro thought to himself as he took big gulps of his glass to ignore the flavor, if her lips would taste like what we're drinking? His face turned red at his own perverted thoughts about Natsumi's lips. He could see them right across from his table, wet and moist from the hot chocolate, small splotches of chocolate were all over them...And he was turning red again.

He was sipping a lot more slowly now though, savoring the flavor. If it tasted like Natsumi it instantly made it all the more better.

"So...Giroro..." Natsumi scooted forward in her chair. Giroro's cup shook a moment, startled. Had she somehow read his mind and figured out what he was thinking?

She was looking at him so intensely. Like she could see through him. Giroro couldn't even drink, he just turned red. His hands shook. "Y-yes?"

"What do you think about this flavor?" Natsumi asked, curiously.

As if some sort of sexy fantasy, Giroro's mind instantly started racing at what she meant by that. Was that a sort of suggestive question? By this flavor did she mean her...? Was she insinuating something? "Tastes like Natsumi." He answered not really thinking about what he was saying and drooling slightly.

Natsumi scooted back. "Um...?" She looked at her hands. How would he know what she tasted like? Was there something she should be concerned about? "I meant the hot chocolate. Do you like it?"

Giroro looked dazed for a moment, but then shook his head frantically to wake himself up. "Of course I like it!" He frantically answered, "It's delicious. I give it 10/10 rating wise."

Natsumi frowned. So he couldn't tell the difference at all. "Giroro...Do you enjoy hot chocolate?"

"It's not bad." Giroro said non-specifically.

Natsumi scrunched up her face, trying to think. He clearly didn't care that much about hot chocolate. So despite what she had believed it wasn't an addiction. Then why was he always trying to find dumb excuses to get her to make him some? "Why is it you like drinking so much hot chocolate with me? I mean, you clearly don't like the hot chocolate- don't deny it, I'll be able to see if you're lying." She cracked her knuckles, "And I don't like liars."

Giroro looked down, distressed. She had found him out. "You got me. I don't actually like hot chocolate. It all just tastes like sugary gun powder to me."

Natsumi gave him a pained expression at that confession. "Then why? Was it for warmth? Did you not want to tell us that you were cold out there?"

Giroro opened his mouth to speak. He closed it and thought for a moment. "Yes." He answered, giving her a sad expression. The answer had been a complete lie, but now or possibly even ever was not the time to tell her the real answer. His love for her was his burden not hers, and she didn't need to hear it this way.

Really he just didn't have the courage to tell her that it wasn't the hot chocolate he wanted, it was the 'with her' that he was going for. He just liked spending time with her. But his pining, his longing for her was a secret that he didn't need to share. After all he could deal with terrible weather conditions an incompetent leader and war but telling the girl he liked he liked her? Impossible.

"Well then, feel free to come inside whenever you want Giroro." Natsumi told him. "I don't want you turning into a frog Popsicle out there." She laughed.

Giroro nodded. "You're a very gracious host."

"Don't go taking advantage of it. I'm still not letting you take over the house." She hissed.

"I know. A warrior like you never would." Giroro told her, "Sorry for making you make so much hot chocolate."

"It's fine. It was kind of fun to make so much." Natsumi grinned. "And maybe I can make a cup for Saburo next time he visits!"

Giroro frowned. That was right. Saburo was still in the picture. The time he spent drinking hot chocolate with her might have been special to him, but it wasn't nearly as much to her.

"I hope you can. I would love to see you happy." He didn't hold her back. His desires, his one-sided affection, it was all his own. Natsumi wouldn't kiss him or hug him, she was his enemy and those were the facts.

That wouldn't stop her hot chocolate from warming his heart and more literally stomach though. Maybe he shouldn't be in love with her, but he was. And he could give himself these small moments.

Why didn't I tell her it was the with her part I was after and not the hot chocolate? Wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Giroro sighed. This was the reason he was a fighter and not a lover.

No use looking to the past. He needed to turn to the future.

Please remember to review!