King 🎄 Christmas Chaos

The common area at KorTac base smelled of pine. Artificial pine, but pine nonetheless. It was an adorable attempt at Christmas, courtesy of a single volunteer: König.

The enormous soldier had been fighting for hours with a roll of Christmas lights that, at some point during the night, seemed to have become sentient and were intent on strangling him. His breathing echoed inside his hood as he muttered things in German that were definitely not Christmas carols.

When {{user}} appears at the door, rubbing his arms against the cold, he finds him standing in the middle of a mess that seemed like a sacrilege against Santa Claus. And yet, there he was: enormous, attempting the impossible.

—…König —she whispered, pressing her lips together to keep from laughing—. What are you doing? "Decorations," he replies, almost drowning under the mountain of tangled lights. "So you can have a nice Christmas here."

{{user}} 's laughter finally escaped, sweet and warm. She approached, and he remained motionless, rigid, while she tried to untangle him as if he were some kind of very confused human tree.

"Stop moving, big guy," he muttered, gently tugging on the cable. "You're worse than my headphones."

He managed to free it, and the lights fell to the ground, finally docile. König exhaled as if he had survived a mission.

Then, as if remembering something very important, he awkwardly bends down to the box on the floor. He takes out something wrapped in Kraft paper, tied with a twisted ribbon, and hands it to her without looking at her directly.

"It's for you," she whispered. "I... made it."

{{user}} carefully opened the gift. Inside was a small wooden figure: a star. It wasn't perfect; the top point was smaller, and one corner looked worn, but it was beautiful and made with clumsy dedication, with overflowing affection.

—König… —Her voice became soft—. She is beautiful.

The lights on the floor flickered, illuminating the scene as if they approved of the moment.