#fembotnik

“It’s not Christmas yet, stop yelling that damn song at the top of your lungs.” Stone complained loudly to her colleagues who had yet stop singing ‘All I want for Christmas’. They glanced her way for a moment, considered their options and carried on. Not a single care thrown.

Stone sighed loudly and cursed the printer for being slow. Even as a government facility with trained agents and high-tech security and weapons, this building was filled from top to bottom in brainless idiots. Every winter was the same stunt pulled again and again. Stone was getting sick of it.

As the last of the papers finished printing, she hauled all of it into her arms and started to march back towards the lab. Everyone who past by her either greeted her, wished her a ‘Happy Holiday’ or a ‘Merry Christmas’ or simply nodded in her directions. She didn’t respond to any of them because she had more important things to do.

The hallways were the same as usual, but small lines of paper snowflakes or pine trees were hung up in corners and over windows. The breakroom was nearly fashioned into something that looked exactly like a room that would come out of a cheesy Christmas romcom and it no one seemed to complain about it besides her and the doctor.

The elevator was crowed when she reached it. People flooded out like a school of fish being released from a fishing net, almost bumping into her several times and knocking all the papers out of her arms. Stone didn’t bother turning around to swear at whoever it was or even glance their way. She was just too busy.

When she finally exited the building and made her way to the off-site lab, the snow outside was already starting to melt into her shoes. There wasn’t much yet, but definitely enough for it to get in. Stone sighed another time and tried her best to get back without any more inconveniences.

Though, something didn’t seem right when she reached the doors of the lab. Something felt off, like a trap set to go off as soon as she goes through the doorway. Maybe it was her agent instincts acting up, but Stone was sure someone set up a trap, harmless or not.

Setting the stack of papers down and quickly removing her coat so she could set the papers on, Stone reached for the panel next to the door and selected ‘Alert’. The button looked like it was to send a message to the doctor or anyone within the lab of possible security lockdowns, breaches or enemies infiltrating. In reality, it was a doorbell option.

Stone waited for a moment before a screen popped up on the panel. The face of Iva Robotnik popped up, hair messed up, eyes tired and table crowed with mechanical parts. The doctor didn’t look well at all due to the weather, but Stone had found ways to calm her down luckily. One of the first methods was make her coffee, of course, and then handle any imbeciles around the lab. Easy and done.

“Doctor, I want to request for an agent to come to the front door.” Stone said calmly, shoving her hands into her pockets. “I think there’s a trap here.”

Robotnik stared at the screen, looking a dead corpse, and sighed. Now that the agent was paying attention, the doctor wasn’t wearing her gloves. Instead, she switched them out for the pair that Stone thought she’d lost. That brought a slight flush to her face, but it wasn’t at all noticeable due to the cold outside already making her flush.

“It’s just a mistletoe, Stone.” Robotnik groaned. “Some moron set it up for ‘the Christmas spirit’.” She waved her hands in the air with a mockingly deeper tone, indicating that it was a man who said it up. Or, at least Stone thought so.

Nodding and apologizing to her doctor, she entered the lab with the stack of papers and indeed found the mistletoe there, though it looked much better than your average ones. Carrying on with the doctor’s orders, Stone ignored it and carried on with her work.

Throughout the rest of her workday, however, Stone continuously see her colleagues get trapped under the mistletoe and then fake-nervously peck each other on the cheeks or literally start kissing each other with the doors still wide open. Stone had to tell them to get inside and close the door unless they wanted to get fired for wasting the doctor’s precious resources.

Eventually, everyone stopped doing it, but the mistletoe remained above the door until the end of the workday.

Stone was forced – or maybe she forced herself into this – to work for another hour, helping out with the most tedious work and cleaning up the lab. The doctor’s cold had gotten more evident, with her sniffling back and forth, eyes burning up easily and sneezing every now and then. The agent had taken her coffee away for obvious reasons, but Robotnik still whined and pulled at Stone’s sleeve to get her caffeine back.

“I’m clocking out now, Doctor.” Stone said as she bid her doctor farewell, hovering over her for a moment longer to get a long, tired groan from the genius.

The lab was going onto low power mood, with most of the lights lining the walls going dim and the sound of machineries dying down. Any badniks near Stone bid her farewell as well with small but affectionate head butt. Stone loved it when the badniks does that, because they had seen them do the same with their mother. Even if other agents say they’re just a line of codes, programmed to be affectionate towards their creator, Stone denied it. She wasn’t listed as a second user in their program.

Before Stone could leave the lab, a hand touched her lower back, pushed her forward and spun her around. Stone let it happen, as she knew no one else was in the lab other than Robotnik. Well, even there was, Stone could always shoot them.

“Not so fast, Agent.” Robotnik said, and even with her slightly stuffy nose, she still sounded as intimidating as ever.

“Wha- “Stone started neutrally before…

Was…was the doctor kissing her? Those are definitely lips against her own.

Oh god, she was actually kissing her.

Stone didn’t have too much time to process before Robotnik pulled away. On her face laid a proud, confident smirk, her hands gripped Stone’s elbow lightly, leaving the agent enough chances to escape. She didn’t.

“You’re under the mistletoe, Stone.” She said in a sing-song voice, pointing up towards the mistletoe that was still hung up there. “And, according to my calculations, you’ll get sick now too since I transferred it to you.”

There she goes, being factual and intellectual again. It was still charming. It felt like she was flirting with her.

“Are you saying you’re sick-trapping me?” Stone joked back, her lips tingling with the kiss that happened just a few moments ago.

Robotnik let go and just walked off before sneezing loudly. Stone doubted that Robotnik even realized that she kissed her, but Stone could wait. The realization would settle in soon.

Before Stone left, the agent heard the doctor sneezed again. Somehow louder than the last.

Yup, still as charming as ever.

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