Because You're You (Orange Pekoe, Girls und Panzer)

Reminiscing

Authors Note: The name 'Alex' in this story is just to represent you, the reader.

"What a beautiful day~" Alex mused happily to himself as he leant over a railing on the side of the ship.

"Hey Alex~" He heard a familiar voice greet, causing a smile to form on his face as he turned.

"Hey Pekoe~"

"So, are you excited to be making port?~"

"Yeah of course. We've been at sea so long, it will be nice to go and explore. Even though I've never been to this port before..."

"Neither have I..."

"A new experience for us both then~" Alex mused jokingly, causing Pekoe to chuckle.

"Indeed..." Pekoe said in a soft tone, shifting her gaze firmly to the ground as her heart began to beat ever faster.

(Orange Pekoe in head) "Just ask him!"

"What's up Pekoe?" Alex asked in a worried tone upon seeing her stare at the ground "Is something wrong?"

"N-No! I-I'm fine!" Pekoe responded, looking up at him with a slightly red face.

"I... Uh... W-Well I was wondering if..."

"What?..."

"W-Well t-there's a... a place I w-was thinking of g-going to in town when we make p-port and... Well I was w-wondering i-if you'd like to go w-with me..."

Alex let out a small chuckle at Pekoe's words, and her nervous expression.

"Of course I'll go with you~ Where did you want to go?"

"T-To a-an amusement park... I-I know it's a bit childish but... I haven't been anywhere like t-that since I was really young..."

"Hahaha~ Sounds fun, let's do it~"

"R-Really?!"

"Of course~ I don't know why you were so nervous about asking someone to go there with you though~"

(Orange Pekoe in head) "It's not what I'm asking! It's WHO I'm asking!"

"Y-Yeah... You're right~" Pekoe replied with a smile, letting out a small chuckle.

"So I'll meet you tomorrow before we disembark then?"

"Sounds good, I'll see you then~"

"Okay~ I-I'll see you later then Alex~" Pekoe said with a smile and light blush as she walked away back to her room, her heart still pounding...

---Timeskip: Orange Pekoe POV---

After a short walk, Pekoe went inside her room and let herself fall face first into her pillow. She the buried her face in it as she hugged it tightly.

"I wonder how he feels about me..." Pekoe asked herself as her mind wandered back to when they first met. The day she felt she'd finally found a guy who actually liked her for who she is...

---Flashback: St. Gloriana Tankery Fields---

"I'd like to introduce you all to some new Tank commanders for our team~" Darjeeling stated, as Pekoe, Assam and Rosehip looked on.

The girls then watched as a group of five came out of the nearby Tankery shed and stood at attention in a row before them, all wearing their red Tankery jackets.

Darjeeling then walked to one end of the row and introduced herself to the commanders one by one, taking her time to get to know them each a bit as she greeted.

Due to this, she was taking some time to reach Alex who was 4th in the line...

(Orange Pekoe in head) "He's got a familiar look~" Pekoe joked to herself as she saw the forth commander in the line wearing a beret with a pair of badges, a St. Gloriana badge, and a Tankery badge.

After chuckling to herself a bit at his choice of head wear, she found herself looking at him intently...

(Orange Pekoe in head) "He's actually pretty cute..."

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex noticed her staring, and immediately took an interest in the cute girl with orange hair. Moving his eyes to meet hers as one end of his lips curved into a smile.

Upon seeing this, Pekoe let out a small gasp and looked away bashfully, a light blush covering her face.

"Someone's seen something she likes~" Rosehip joked, causing Assam to laugh.

"Sh-Shut up!" Pekoe responded as she tried to hide her flustered expression.

Little did she know Alex was watching on and found her reaction to be very cute...

---Timeskip---

After their introductions, the new commanders were allowed to talk with other members of the Tankery team to get to know each other.

Alex decided to take this opportunity to approach the cute orange haired girl, which took all the courage he had within himself due to his nerves.

Regardless, he did approach her, and the pair had been talking for a solid 7 and a half minutes...

(Alex to narrator) "Hey! Before you judge, just know that's quite an achievement for me!" I'm sure it is... Now, moving on...

"I'm sure you have lots of friends though~"

"Well y-yeah I guess... I have Assam, Rosehip and Darjeeling..."

"And I bet a girl like you has guys chasing her all the time~"

Pekoe gasped at his words and stuttered out, "A-A g-girl like me?..."

"Yeah~ Smart, funny... Cute..."

Pekoe's hands began to shake slightly in front of her at his words.

"C-C-Cute?!"

"U-Uh..." Alex stuttered himself, feeling his face turn bright red once he realised what he'd said...

"I er... I n-need to get g-going!" Pekoe announced as she jogged away, trying to hide her large blush from him.

Real smooth...

(Alex to narrator) "Oh shut up! Shouldn't you be ending the flashback or something?!"

---Flashback end---

After Pekoe finished thinking back over their first meeting, she lifted her head and noticed that her pillow was slightly damp.

She let out a small sniffle as she rubbed her eyes slightly.

"I hope one day I have the courage to tell you..."