The quiet of the bedroom was interrupted by an alarm clock, followed by the loud bang of the commander's fist slamming on the snooze button. The morning sun lit up the room, faint sounds of birds chirping are heard from the outside.
He moved his blanket to reveal SOP II firmly holding him in place with an all-limb-inclusive hug.
"Time to get up."
"Five more minutes..."
A familiar morning ritual, the commander has to come up with something to get SOP II wanting to get up and release her iron-grasp.
"I gotta cook breakfast, is there anything you want? pancakes maybe?"
"That'd be nice...but it can wait..."
SOP II replied as if half-awake, but her grip didn't budge regardless of the commander's attempts to escape.
"Well, there's probably an operation waiting for you to do soon, so I'd better start early."
She grumbled a bit being reminded of work this early.
"...Day off...ten more minutes..."
The catch was that whenever SOP II heard something she didn't like, she added a few more minutes to the lock-down time.
"It won't be logistics, you'll get to go on the field! Your sisters will probably join you too."
"Give them a day off too..."
She giggled at the commander's futile attempts and rubbed her cheek on his chest.
"Hehehe, warm..."
So he decided to use his trump card.
"What about Aite?"
"Oh!"
SOP II sprung up, almost flinging the blanket off herself-
"Waaaait, don't the nytos have studies in the morning? That's fifteen minutes..."
and immediately grappled onto the commander again.
"Isn't it the weekend?"
"It is!"
SOP II sprung up again, finally ready to get up but the commander spoke once more.
"Oh, wait, it's Saturday. I think they have some classes till ten."
She growled in annoyance and put all her weight on the commander.
"That's it, twenty minutes!"
"Hey, all I did was tell you the truth, why punish me for it?"
"Punish?"
SOP II looked up at the commander with a smug grin.
"Okay, if this is so horrible, then say it to me directly. Say 'My dear SOPMOD, I hate it when you hug me and I wish I'd never have to experience it again'."
He looked back at her with a blank expression, not saying a word.
"So?"
"Nah, you see, I know this is a trick. If I do say that, you'll know I'm lying and keep me locked as punishment, but if I say that's wrong you'll reward me by, again, keeping me locked for longer. I only win if I keep quiet."
SOP II looked at the commander completely unimpressed, then laid her head on him with a sigh.
"You always take the fun out of everything..."

After around thirty minutes, SOP II finally released the commander and they could start their day.
Brushed, fed and dressed, SOP II tried to drag the commander out of his office for a change but he had work to do, as usual.
Having some free time herself, she decided to walk over to the kindergarten and see what the nyto's classes are like. It was rare for a member of the AR team to casually walk around the base and SOP II hated the extra attention, so she tried to think of a way to get there unnoticed. Looking around, she spotted a grille on the side of some air vents; An idea came to her mind that the commander would probably disapprove of, but she conveniently ignored those thoughts.
SOP II quietly removed the grille and stepped into the vent. Inside, she was small enough to even find it quite roomy, but pretty dusty; Pulling up the map of the ventilation system in her HUD, she started crawling through it to the nyto's sector.
SOP II looked out another grille further down to confirm her location, and while peeking, another doll's eyes met hers.
The dolls outside yelled in terror after seeing the pair of red, ominous eyes staring back from a pitch blank vent, and SOP II scampered off in a hurry before the doll started a scene as attracting attention is exactly what she was trying to avoid.
After double checking that nobody followed her, she kept crawling to the kindergarten sector; As she got closer, she tried moving a little quieter to make sure she wasn't noticed, and after a bit more crawling she found herself right on-top of the vent window, pointing at the classroom Aite was studying in.
SOP II peered through it and noticed some of the nytos were looking up; she quickly pulled her head back thinking they already noticed her.
The class below continued as normal, so SOP II peeked again and all seemed to go well, but she couldn't see Aite.
She fiddled around as quietly as she could to change her angle, and had to lay on the metal fencing to see Aite in the corner of the room.
A quiet giggle escaped her lips, but she quickly caught herself and looked down again to see if anyone noticed her, which was luckily not the case.
Wanting to get a better angle, SOP II kept moving around on the thin metal bars, and while the vent system itself was capable of supporting a doll's weight for maintenance purposes, the grilles were not.
SOP II and everyone in the room heard the metal beneath her groan loudly.
"OH SH-" was the only thing she managed to say before the grate broke and she plummeted into the classroom below.
The table she landed on was crushed but luckily the nyto managed to move away in time.
While the nytos mostly looked at her with curiosity rather than fear, their doll teacher screamed like she just witnessed death itself falling from the sky.
"Wh-WAAAAAAAAAA"
SOP II tried to calm her down as best she could-
"Waitwait, don't yell, I- WAAH-"
but tried to stand up too quickly before she regained her balance, tripped over herself and stumble-walked with her arms flailing right into the doll which started muttering in fear.
"Pleasedon'tkillmeI'llbegoodpleaseno-"
Type 4 curled up under SOP II while hiding her face in her hat.
"It's okay! it's okay, I won't hurt you, I'm sorry I dropped in like this."
"R-r-really?"
She moved her hat away for a moment and saw SOP II try to put on her best reassuring smile. Type 4 regained her composure for a moment, then realized who was standing before her.
"Oh, OH! Y-you're from the AR team!"
She quickly stood up straight, dusted herself off and saluted, still shaking from the fright she just experienced.
"T-tactical doll Type 4 a-at your service! I am h-honored to meet you!"
"It's ok, please don't do that... And please don't tell anyone I was in the vents."
"Hai! Yes si- uh, m-ma'am!"
SOP II turned to address the nytos, while looking around for Aite.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that, please go back to what you were doing... What were they doing?"
SOP II addressed her question to Type 4.
"Ah! yes! they were j-just in the middle of a drawing assignment, as per the orders of the education committee and-"
"Type 4, relax. talk to me like you'd talk to any other doll."
"uhm..."
Type 4 took a deep breath and again tried to calm down.
"W-well, like I said, I gave them a drawing assignment. I just taught them basic color theory and let them draw what they wanted to pass the last few minutes of the class."
"May I talk to one of the students?"
"Huh? s-sure, I guess."
SOP II walked over to Aite who was sitting in the far corner of the class, with Type 4 waddling behind.
"Hello~"
SOP II greeted Aite and hugged warmly.
"That was really weird."
"What was?"
"You falling from the ceiling. I never saw a doll enter a room like that."
SOP II wanted to say she shouldn't have seen her enter like that either, but just laughed it off and tried to move on from that topic.
"Whatcha drawing?"
SOP II looked over Aite's shoulder before she could answer, and saw her working on a very detailed sketch.
"Wow, that looks so complicated, is it a car?"
"Yeah, I saw it out the window once."
It wasn't accurate to the standard G&K Military LUV Aite saw, but she kept to its shape well and added a few extra details that almost made it look like it received a paradeus upgrade.
"Yes, this child has shown some exceptional skill in drawing technical artworks."
Type 4 puffed up a little, proud as if Aite's abilities were due to her teachings.
"It looks really good, Aite!"
"T-thanks..."
Aite was uncharacteristically touched by SOP II's compliment and answered a bit bashfully.
SOP II placed her chin on Aite's shoulder from behind and hugged her again.
"Hehehe, just a day passed and I already missed you! Can you excuse her from your class, Type 4?"
"Well, it looks like she completed her assignment, so I don't see why not."
"Hehe, thanks!"
Type 4 still felt odd speaking so casually with an elite, and saluted in response.
"Don't feel so tense, I'll tell the commander extra good things about your work-"
SOP II looked over Type 4's shoulder at the table she broke.
"-as long as you keep my entrance a secret."
"Yes, of course!"

SOP II smiled and bid Type 4 farewell, after which she took Aite's hand and the pair left the classroom.
"Oh, one second."
Aite stopped SOP II and ran back into the room they just left. After a few minutes she got out again, clutching her folder.
"You want to bring this along? okay! What's in it anyway?"
"...my drawings."
"Can I take a look?"
Aite acted on-guard when it came to her folder and hid it behind her back.
"Maybe... later. Why were you in the vents?"
SOP II chuckled awkwardly; she knew she'd have to explain herself but didn't come up with a good excuse yet.
"Well, you see, uh- people are not used to me walking around, so I usually sneak around to get where I need to and not draw attention."
Something she said really caught Aite's attention.
"Oh? You can sneak? Can you teach me how to sneak too?"
"I don't really want to drag you through the vents, the commander will never let me hear the end of it and-"
"No-no, I meant normal sneaking. You know that too, right?"
"Oh- uh, sure? I can show you some basic stealth."
Aite's fixation did raise a red flag, but SOP II brushed it off.
She crouched behind a bench, laid low and moved forward, waving to Aite to join her. Once they joined up, SOP II corrected Aite's posture a little and moved forward while checking for any dolls in the way.
SOP II showed her how to do quick dashes between objects, moving from their hiding spot to another past a gap and ending her short sprint with a roll forward, after which she turned to Aite to see her attempt.
Aite looked around nervously, then dashed from her hiding spot but fumbled the roll, slipping and almost falling into the open but SOP II caught her by the arm and yanked her closer to herself.
SOP II covered Aite's mouth to quiet her breathing, trying to hear if anyone had noticed her, and relaxed after confirming they were still hidden. "Are you okay, Aite? that looked like it hurt."
"Yeah... I'm fine."
She took the chance to very gently hug the nyto, keeping in mind the commander's advice about being careful with their little bodies.
"Don't worry, a little more practice and you'll get it right!"
SOP II kissed her forehead and continued on, doing less complicated maneuvers so Aite could follow her instructions easier.
Little by little, Aite's steps became slightly quieter and her dashes quicker, which slowly turned their stealth practice into a giggle-filled race to the commander's office.
They ran and ran, and eventually got to the command center's main corridor quickly; but while Aite started to get exhausted, SOP II didn't even try to slow down.
With the office's door square in her sights, she lowered her body, held her arms in front of her head and crashed through, startling the commander inside.
"JESUS FU-"
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
She tumbled into the office and rolled around on the floor trying to slow her momentum, and ended up laying in the middle of the room, laughing.
Aite caught up and looked at SOP II in amazement, while the commander tried to steady his breathing.
"For God's sake SOP II, I thought a breaching kit went off. I know the door can handle it, but I doubt my nerves can if you keep this up; Do you really have to enter like this?"
"You paid extra for an 'anti-SOP-shenanigans' door, I'm just making full use of it!"
The commander was too disoriented to try and find a hole in that logic, and Aite sheepishly walked over to SOP II.
"Um... are you okay?"
"Hm? Of course I am!"
SOP II brought her legs to her chest, leaped from the floor using her arms and landed on her feet.
"I am indestructible!"
The commander sighed.
"Sure, but the building isn't."
"The door's fine! look!"
SOP II walked over to the door and tried to close it, but quickly noticed it was slightly crooked and wouldn't shut properly.
"Oh... uh, whoopsie."
The commander sighed again.
"Whatever, I'll get someone on it. just don't make too much noise if you plan on staying here, I got paperwork."
"Yeah, yeah~ Don't worry, work man."
He grumbled a little and went back to his work while SOP II took Aite's hand, led her to the kitchen table and sat down with her.

"So, did you like my sneaking lesson?"
"Yeah, it was fun!"
Over time SOP II managed to control her strength a little better, and now hugged Aite with much more confidence. She pressed her cheek to Aite's, making a mental note of how soft it was compared to the commander's, and much less prickly.
"Hehehe... well, I taught you how to sneak, will you show me your drawings?"
After a bit of quiet thinking, Aite answered.
"...okay."
She put her folder on the table and hesitated a bit before opening it. Inside were very detailed geometrical drawings that almost looked like blueprints, if they were not drawn with multicolored crayons.
"Woah... that's the commander's room from the garden! so detailed..."
The drawing was of the command center as seen from the outside, alongside measurements of the window size and the distance from it to the ground below.
SOP II flipped the page and saw another very blocky drawing.
"Huh... that's the layout of your classroom, right?"
"Y-yeah, it is."
All the windows and tables were charted, alongside the teacher's walking pattern and a timetable on the second page.
"It's so detailed~ you're very talented, Aite!"
"...thanks."
Flipping forward, SOP II noticed a large amount of kadoobies between some of the pages.
"Hm? why did you tear these out?"
"They... um, didn't work like I wanted."
Aite hastily closed her folder, took it away from the table and hugged it.
"A-anyway, let's do something else."
"Sure! Can you show me how you draw?"
"Unrelated to drawing..."
SOP II kept noticing how oddly Aite acted whenever the topic of her drawings was brought up and wanted to reassure her about them, so she kneeled down and caressed Aite's head.
"Aite, I'm being honest! your drawings are really, really good! it reminds me of the plans me and my sister chart out whenever we go on missions, drawing as good as a doll is very impressive!"
Something she said startled Aite, and she quickly ran away and hid the folder on one of the shelves while the commander was too busy with his work to notice.
SOP II got worried that she offended Aite somehow and followed after her, but Aite quickly ran back to her and grabbed her hand.
"Can we go outside? please?"
SOP II wasn't sure what to make of Aite's behavior, but she was glad Aite wasn't hurt by her words.
"Oh- yeah! of course."
SOP II ran to the commander and hugged him from behind to tell him where she was going, while Aite still stared at her folder on the shelf.
SOP II walked back to Aite and led her out of the commander's office, spending the rest of the day outside.

-
Author's notes:
-No, I didn't know "kadoobies" was a word either but that's what they're called, apparently.
-I based SOP II's aversion to unwanted attention from people she's not close with from her interactions with the logistics echelon in CT and the ending of DR; keeping all my fics non-OOC is a priority for me.