Author's note: this story is dedicated to the guest reviewer who was trolled really terribly by this Backpack bootswiper guy, it took me a while to figure out what was going on but now that I saw what happened I felt bad and decided to write you a story about Slippy/fox because I like this pairing too and don't find any good fics so enjoy! I hope this makes things better! Even if that person didn't write it, I did :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE ! And enjoy the holiday cheer!

"I'm just saying, we don't need to barrel roll into this."

"What does spinning in a plane to deflect lasers have to do with telling our co-workers that we're in a relationship?" Slippy blinks at him, cocking his head slightly.

Fox raises a finger into the air with an alarmed expression, mouthing a "shhhh" violently as he lifts his other hand to Slippy's lips. They keep completely still and quiet in the stall bathroom as someone comes in, urinates, washes their hands and talks to themselves in the mirror.

"You got this, Big Bird," Falco's voice says outside the stall. "You're better than everybody in here. All you gotta do is show them the goods."

Falco exits the stall as Slippy balances himself on Fox's shoulders and the loose toilet seat. Fox is facing the stall door, with Slippy behind him, so upon inspection, it looks normal. Like someone is pooping.

Fox is very thorough, as always, in his planning of things.

"Look," he says, sighing. "Just follow my lead, okay? I'm captain. Trust your captain."

Slippy snorts and fights back a giggle. "Aye aye, CAPTAIN!"

He bursts into laughter. Slippy all but collapses onto Fox's shoulders, and Fox has to catch him in an embrace to avoid the both of them toppling to the bathroom floor.

"Shhh!" Fox says, violently pressing his finger to Slippy's mouth behind him. "Okay now you leave and I'll be out there in five minutes. Okay?"

Slippy hops down from the toilet seat beside him, laughing. "Aye aye, captain!"

"Fox! Are you in there?" comes another voice coursing through the bathroom's small interior. Female - Krystal's.

"C-coming," Fox grumbles in what he hopes to be a natural, and not nervous at all expression as Slippy's face contorts into a ludicrous grin. "Change of plans," he whispers, while patting Slippy on the top of his head gently. "You stay here five minutes, m'kay?"

"Sure thing, baby. Fly kisses…" Slippy gestures with a webbed hand lifted to puckered up lips, winking. He does this multiple times.

Fox rolls his eyes. And then, eyes still turned heavenward, blows back a few fly-kisses of his own.

Fox exhales with relief as he is hit with the lukewarm, recycled air of too many sets of lungs gathered under one ceiling, that is, the Great Fox's, and his ears welcome the din of disparate chatter under which he hopes to make his presence blend in. Rehearsing and revising in his mind, how he would make his announcement heard…

"Fox!"

Krystal runs up, and practically grabs Fox by the still wet and soapy hand. "Come on, we're all waiting for you to start!" she exclaims, still holding onto his paw as she leads him along.

Always so friendly, that girl. Too friendly, Fox thinks to himself as he blushes, but with embarrassment. Hoping that people wouldn't get the wrong idea…

The mess hall looks as shoddy as it ever does, just this time with ribbons and a small tree decorating it festively. The lights and colors don't add much, just kind of highlight the filthy steel blandness of the Great Fox's interior. Items brought in for the Christmas potluck have already been laid across the table: Fox's takeout pizza, Falco's chicken wings, Krystal's vegan fruit platter, Peppy's carrot cake, and some sort of seafood-based sludge from Slippy's part. Pepper claims to have made his own cheese dip, but it was store bought, and nobody believes him anyway.

The other members of the crew, and then some, are scattered around the table, some grabbing handfuls of food, others mingling.

A hand claps on Fox's back aggressively as he overlooks the table.

"Didja taste my queso dip, Fox?" General Pepper rudely interrupts. "Made it myself. Family recipe."

"Haha, right," Fox stammers, playing along, knowing they serve the same dip at WompaLonga's Funtime Garage. "It was T-Rexcellent! Haha! That means excellent, in ah. In dino speak."

"No, it doesn't," Krystal interjects from behind Fox, lunging forward to grab a chip from the table and eating it naked. "Quim laka dost hoobroo! That's how you say excellent."

Fox laughs nervously. "Yeah, I didn't mean-"

Krystal pokes and prods his torso, laughing into a full mouth of chip before walking off. It makes him uncomfortable, and he's not sure how to respond to it.

"So," Falco suddenly pops into scene, a freshly uncorked bottle of wine in his wing. Leans in uncomfortably close, as Fox stuffs a handful of chips into his own maw awkwardly. "Gettin' along with the new gal, eh...?"

He feels his cheeks go red in embarrassment, and is about to stammer something half-baked when he is saved by the arrival of a certain pair.

"Hey chungus," Miyu says, Fay on her arm.

Fay wiggles her fingers at Fox in acknowledgement.

"Oh, uh," Fox stutters on his words. "H-hey you guys. Girls, I mean."

"You can call us guys," Fay barks laughter into her hand saying it, "whatever makes your simple life more simple."

"Fly and shoot! Fly and shoot! Do a barrel roll!" Miyu cackles, almost crushing the plastic cup in her hand. "Jesus, why haven't you retired yet?"

"I like money, I guess," Fox says, adding a nervous "haha" to the end of his sentence.

"Yeah, uh, we like spending it," Miyu snorts and walks away, bringing Fay with her.

"Later dingus," Fay calls out before returning to the party.

Fox turns around looking for Falco, only to find him at the other end of the room, clearly having a one-sided discussion with the newly arrived Katt.

"FOX~" In runs Slippy, heaving. "Man, it was sure getting stuffy. It's been five minutes, right?"

"Five minutes until what?" enquires Krystal, popping once more into the scene, paws full of skewered fruit chunks.

Fox tries to signal to Slippy to stop everything that he is doing, but he tries to be too subtle about it and Slippy has no idea why he's scratching his neck like that.

"Five minutes until I could come out of the bathroom!" Slippy says, confidently.

"H-ha S-lip, v-very f-funny," Fox stammers while eye-rolling and biting down on his lip hard.

"Wh." Krystal starts, confused, gathering herself. "Why would you need to wait five minutes to come out of the bathroom."

"I dunno!" Slippy says smiling. "Ask Fox! How's the dip?"

Slippy's attention is on the food table. Fox is angry, yet mature about this unintended betrayal. Or at least attempting to be.

"S-see, Krys. It's, uh, a running joke between us, er, Slippy and I, and, well, since you're new we never got to explain, and uh, it's a bit of a long story so maybe I won't explain it right now but I'll tell you later tonight and-"

"The dip is delicious," Krystal exclaims with glee to Slippy, who is too grabbing some food off the table. "Quim laka dost hoobroo! Though I do prefer my corn crackers without creamsauce."

"Well well well. If it isn't McCloud and his… girlfriend!" exclaims a certain gruff british accent in a clearly mocking tone.

"Who the heck invited Star Wolf," Fox mutters to himself.

Because of sloppy situational awareness, he is overheard.

"I did!" Pepper says loudly from just behind him, slapping him on the back. "I invited Star Wolf myself, Fox, because like us! They're just mercenaries! Everybody welcome STAR WOLF."

A few people shoot Fox a glance of disapproval as everyone soft claps for the existence of Star Wolf.

They bow, as they are delighted to be here.

Wolf, followed by Panther, and even Leon, that weird sort of psychopathic lizard guy who always gave Fox the creeps.

"We even brought our own additions to the… festivities," Wolf continues, pulling out a box and placing it on the table full of food.

"Let's hope it's not a bomb," Fox mumbles to himself

"It's NOT a BOMB!" Pepper exclaims loudly, outing him once again. "I asked them to share our culture with us by bringing us some original Venomian fine dining!~"

"Roasted side glundersquib with Venomian ootklahski sauce," Panther purrs as he unloads the contents of the box onto some proper plates. "Why, our folks back on Venom would kill to get a taste of such delicious cooking…"

"Kill?" Fox mutters, "sounds a bit aggressive, doesn't it?"

"He doesn't mean THAT kind of kill, Fox!" Pepper exclaims, outing him yet again! "They're mercenaries just like us, you buffoon!"

A small murmur of laughter at Fox's expense ripples through the room.

"H-hey guys, let me help!" Slippy has run over to Panther and Wolf's side, and has begun assisting them in serving their offering to the queue of teammates now gathered all around them. "S-sorry for that, Wolf. Foxie doesn't mean what he just said, not at all. He's just too proud to admit that he likes you guys, see."

Fox visibly reels.

Slippy then raises his head, looks across the table straight in Fox's eyes, and winks, sticking out his tongue.

"Hah!" Fox laughs, not knowing what to say.

He abruptly makes his way over to the alcohol bar without saying anything else. Like anything normal that would excuse him from the general scene.

Fox pours himself a drink and drinks it.

And then he does that again.

But as he's pouring his third or fourth drink, as he's lost count by now, a paw startles his shoulder, as well as the rest of his body.

"You okay, kiddo?" whispers a gentle, fatherly voice. Peppy's kind, concerned eyes glance down at him.

"Yeah," Fox sighs, "Yeah."

Peppy sits down on the bench next to him, and puts his paw over Fox's shoulder.

"It's not about that Fara girl, isn't it?"

Fox widens his eyes.

"No?"

The old hare chuckles.

"Last Christmas, you were at this bar on your own. Drinking like there was no end, because you couldn't get over that girl. Just worried a similar situation… hadn't produced itself this time, also."

"N-no," Fox sighs. "Not at all, Peps. But thanks for checking up on me. But I'm fine. Really."

Peppy leans closer and closer to Fox's face, voice a hush. Lips breaking into a playful smile.

"Then… anyone in the picture, this time around?"

"W-wha…?" Fox stammers. "Agh, Peps, like I told you, I'm fine!"

The old hare chuckles to himself, before getting up to leave. Not before adding, "Remember, Fox. I'm here always for you, if you need someone to talk to. Just remember that.. Also, Merry Chrimmus!"

Fox steadies himself internally. Still shaky. Meanwhile, he begins to rehearse how he wants to tell the team about his new relationship with Slippy. He's not sure where to start exactly, but he knows that tonight is a rare opportunity. It's not often that so much of the team - and the extended team, too - is gathered all around him. They're supposed to do a gift exchange later that night… maybe then?

But what would the team think of him? Of his relationship? No one would see it coming. Him, and Slippy! Out of all couples! And, most of all, the stakes on his reputation… as leader of the Star Fox team..

Webbed fingers tickle his sides briefly, jolting him from his deep thought.

"Hey Delicious," he says, swiftly darting around his side before the poor fox can register what is happening and holding up a paper plate of food in front of him. "How about some DELICIOUS?"

"Slippy," Fox says under his breath as he blushes under his fur. "Don't say stuff like that yet. They don't *know*.

"Stuff like what? This ootkamamhi stuff really is good…"

"Ootklahski," Fox corrects in a hushed tone, facepalming. "Don't call me delicious, people might hear you."

"Oh. So not out in public. Only in private… if ya know what I mean." A wink, and pursed lips.

"NOT SO LOUDLY!" Fox exclaims.

Everyone is looking at them suddenly.

"Sorry, Foxie."

Fox shudders, his eyes closed, ignoring it.

"Not that, either."

"Foxie?"

"Yes, that."

"Oh." Slippy's eyes widen. "OH. I shouldn't do the pet names thing. In front of everybody."

Fox looks around at everyone staring at them, confused. Falco and Katt half locked into each other's arms. Peppy shoveling a spoon of Slippy's concoction into his mouth. Pepper eating his chips and dip. Miyu and Fay, still hanging onto each other. Panther and Krystal, looking up from a common plate of fruit chunks. Wolf with a spoon of Ootklahski having dropped out of his open jaw, back into his plate, splattering his elaborate chest armor, and who has now turned his head down, trying to lick the armor clean.

Consider the bandaid ripped off.

"SLIPPY AND I ARE DATING! OKAY?!" the leader of Star Fox yells, exasperated and exhausted, not to mention slightly drunk.

"Yeah?" Krystal blinks. "Huh, cool."

She resumes her conversation with Panther as everybody else resumes what they were doing. A few extra murmurs are heard initially, but which soon fades into the cadence of regular conversational tones.

Slippy snorts. "Don't you feel silly now, Foxie dear?"

"Maaaan," Pepper says, loaded beyond his wits and slapping them both on the shoulder. "I didn't know foxes and toads could even make sexual intercourse on each other. But good for you guys! Seriously!"

He slaps them both again on the shoulder and stumbles off to the head, that's what soldiers call the bathroom.

"I think you owe me some credits," Slippy says through a smirk and a mouthful of dip and pizza.

"You'll get your stupid credits," Fox sighs. "Just let me collect my pride first."

"Oh, but not money-credits. Love credits, if ya know what I mean…"

They head collectively, arm in arm, back to the table to enjoy the food.

Quietly, Slippy leans up to whisper in Fox's ear, as they are filling their plates together with food;

"I love you, you big idiot."

"I love you, too," Fox sighs contentedly, as he blows Christmas fly-kisses at his perfect, adorable lover.

Buster/Nadine - 2018