This request was for Emeraldas/Tochiro in the prompt candy canes. I didn't really set this in any specific universe, so I just put SSX, but it could fit in most any of them.

When Tochiro learned I knew little to nothing about Christmas, he sat me down and explained it with such excitement and wonder it seemed he could see every picture he described in front of his eyes. No one loved Earth holidays more than him, so I did my best to understand and participate in the odd rituals. Growing up on La Metal held nothing of the sort, and there was much to learn.

"Tochiro," I called as he mulled over a stack of blueprints at his workshop desk. "Are you eating your coffee stirrer?"

His eyes rolled to me and blinked a few times before he pulled the curved stick from his mouth. The trance his work put him in led him to gnaw on non-food items in the past. Pencils were splintered by bite marks, busted pens filled his mouth with ink, and all too often wires found their way between his lips. He practically needed a babysitter to make sure he only ate real food on a regular basis.

This time, though, he wasn't startled to find the coffee stirrer bitten in half. "Never had a candy cane before?" he asked, smiling in that way only he did when he found out I didn't know something. There was no pity or condescension to it, just a light smile.

I pulled the stick from my drink to examine. The red stripes circling it were faded at the end, where the coffee melted them away. It smelled of mint, likely why my coffee held hints of the taste. "It's a candy," I said as I came to an understanding. "It is oddly shaped for a candy."

He nodded, sticking his back between his teeth to snap the end off. "I think they're hooked so you can hang them on the tree. It does make them harder to eat."

I snapped a piece off like he had and listened to it crunch in my ears. "It's just a peppermint, isn't it?" I asked before dropping it back in the coffee. I wasn't much for sweets.

"I guess so," he said, a grin easing onto his face. "But peppermints are all short and round like me, and candy canes are pretty and tall like you. They're actually more of a holiday candy, and they also make for much better coffee stirrers. Our cook puts one in every new mug of coffee, so I've been eating a bunch lately."

I strode over to him, around cluttered piles covering the floor. The air around him held the tinge of mint, either from his coffee or from him. I could only guess at the number of mugs he'd been through tonight already. "Candy is bad for you, I believe," I said. "Too much coffee is bad as well." I leaned over him to press my nose into his hair, my hand settling on his cheek. "But you do smell nice."

He huffed and stuttered for a moment before biting off another piece of his candy cane. I pulled back to find his cheeks brilliantly pink. Even though he knew more than me when it came to so much, he was still such an innocent soul. "It's mostly just my breath- I mean, my mouth is minty because I've eaten a bunch of them," he spluttered, his eyes darting in every direction. "I really need a shower- not that I'm gross, but I-I… But I'm glad I smell good!"

There may have been an attempt to be smooth somewhere in there, and I had to give him points for trying. Even if he wasn't, well, I saw no reason not to kiss him.