A/N: Just a little thing I wrote/drew for Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone! Though short, I hope it captures the sweetness of their relationship that I love.
They'd exchanged gifts hours ago—nothing really fancy, just a nice scarf she'd somehow managed to knit for him (which he really did appreciate, despite the lumps) and a model kit of a tank he managed to scrabble up in their rare shore-leave trips.
Her shining eyes and incoherent squeaks were all the thanks he needed. She'd tried to act all mature for once, and not turn into a blushing, babbling fool—but of course it never worked. The latest one from Good Smile's Girls und Panzer line…she never thought it would be possible to own, not after she'd been whisked away to the skies aboard the A. Logan.
The rest of the platoons had celebrated with a raucous party—alcohol had been provided in bold excess and every kind of group activity had been suggested and carried out: karaoke, board games, strip poker—Jess and Esui had been particularly skilled in forcing Mahesh's hand and his unfortunate partner for the night, Gaudí. Hunter had gotten as spectacularly drunk as they'd ever seen him, much to an embarrassed Galiko's chagrin.
'I'm finally back to duty after months, and the first thing I see is this idiot losing it,' she'd grimaced to Sio, who could only laugh and shrug.
Although Christmas had never been a huge deal for her—Christmas trees were something of a rarity in homes, and so she'd admired and taken pictures of the one in the hall until LeMond assured her that the tree wasn't going away anytime soon. Even Vidocq had peeked his head out for a few hours, debating away the finer points of wine with Adam of all things, who only nodded and seemed bored, especially as his eyes met hers about halfway through the debauchery.
They'd both left soon after, though not at the same time—that would just be a little too suspicious, though she was sure Jess and Mahesh had given her more than one wink. 'It's not like we're going to do, that…' She'd thought in exasperation, although her heart did skip several beats as he'd mumbled something about hanging out in his room, if she wasn't tired yet.
'Plus, I need t' give you yer gift, squirt.' She was confused, because the box was already in her hands, and the next thing she knew he tucked his fingers under her chin and gave her just the slightest of kisses, the warmth spreading through from everywhere in her body. 'Merry Christmas, Sio.'
And then they'd somehow ended up in bed, lounging around in nothing but their sleepwear while she thumbed through the instruction manual while he fiddled with the pieces—'how the hell do you even put these together'—the heater turned up to a comfortable temperature, although she much preferred to snuggle close to his warmth. It was a bit…embarrassing, to be sharing such skinship with him, but at the same time it felt so right.
The tank would have to wait until tomorrow to be assembled, but that was okay, because they'd have plenty of time then. For now, she was more than happy to lay down alongside him, using his chest as a pillow while he held her snugly with one arm.
Definitely a very Merry Christmas, indeed.