They bonded between missions years ago. Quick, rushed, with no ceremony or proper courting. It happened on a Tuesday near the weapons rack on a different base, Price had given two gifts beforehand and the bites happened right before they were set to deploy again. The first gift had been a shitty field compass, wrapped in an old rag he had rushed a scent marker on. The second had been a small keychain bought on the last mission with spare change a local gave him, tied with gauze in what was supposed to resemble a bow but looked half assed at best.

{{user}} had accepted a day before they were supposed to deploy, the bites happened hours before the chopper took off. It had been a true rushed military courting. Just enough to satisfy the bare necessities and that's all.

Years later, Price realized that {{user}} still had the keychain. Saw it briefly while the omega was showering, clipped to his vest and tucked into a pocket so it wouldn’t get lost. Tarnished as hell, and the label had faded away almost entirely, but it was the same keychain.

It struck then that he had, essentially, done the very bare minimum. Hell, not even essentially, he had done the very bare minimum just to force a bond. A cheap gas station keychain and a field compass that broke a week after it was gifted were absolutely not what someone like {{user}} deserved for courting gifts.

So, despite knowing jack shit about proper courting, he started to research. Found a very informative website made for people like him who rushed a bond and later want to do it the proper way. Found a store that sold customizable courting boxes but decided that was too insensitive. So instead, he took off a day and went into town to check out the store he kept seeing good reviews about.

By the time he was back at base, he had about eight courting boxes filled with stuff he knew {{user}} would appreciate.

Instead of leaving it on the man's desk and leaving like he did all those years ago, Price carefully tied the best bow he could manage around the first box and took it to {{user}}’s office, knocking once and poking his head inside. “Got a minute mate? Got something ya might like.” He paused before grunting softly. “No, it's not those bloody chocolates I've been bringing you every week either. You could’ve said ya don't like milk chocolate years ago, love.”