Wrapping Paper Wars
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"I don't think I'm doing this right." Trailbreaker struggled over taping the edges with clumsy fingers.
Wrapping paper was easy to tear and difficult to use for the humans. The bots were having an even tougher time of it. At least a few with more nimble digits had managed to wrap the few presents they were giving to each other. Most of them weren't really interested in giving or getting presents. They just wanted to participate in the holiday.
That didn't mean the pile wasn't liberally fluffed with fake gifts. A few mechs wrapped rocks as a joke, tossed in empty energon cubes because they were bored, or grabbed random objects because they actually liked wrapping but had run out of things to wrap. Hence, the cheery music playing in the rec room as half the crew had a fun time making a mess and goofing off while pretending to be helpful. The floor was littered with confetti likes scraps, crumpled tape, and tissue paper as if they'd just had their New Year's party that was still some days to come.
Perceptor made a lot of noise pushing the rolls out of the way and glancing beneath empty cardboard boxes with a look of frustration upon his face, "Have any of you seen my scissors? They were just here."
Several helm shakes answered him as mechs checked their messy parts of the tables and didn't find them. Gears and Huffer traded looks, Gears slumping down in his seat to hopefully go unnoticed. Face as emotive as stone, Huffer merely wrote something on a tag and stuck it to a suspiciously scissor shaped present hiding in the pile of colorful gifts.
"Hey, that looks like a flag."
It was hard to hear over the chatter and the radio, but Smokescreen's voice still carried. Everyone looked up to see what he was talking about. Red faceplates down as he focused on carefully folding the paper, Tracks didn't immediately notice everyone turning to him. Until Raoul leaned over from where he was lounging and whacked the mech on the arm.
"Hey! Watch the paint!"
Raoul grinned back unashamed, "Smokes wants to talk to you man."
"Your wrapping paper looks like a flag," The blue Datsun pointed out before the pair could get into an argument. Everyone looked at Tracks' roll of green and cream colored paper. There was a bit of leftover sticking off the top in a long rectangle. It did look somewhat like a flag.
Everyone else took notice of their rolls. Several had the same appearance as Tracks'. Shifty optics flickered around as they all stopped talking. Impish grins crept up and teeth flashed before chaos erupted.
When Optimus came in, he was startled by the loud shouting. The first thing he noticed was the fact that the room was now split in two, tables shoved to either side with the presents and tree safely relocated to the far corner. The group of bots on the right had wrapping paper bandannas taped to their helms. Across the messy space and crouched behind their tables mechs had paper hats on. Both groups held up rolls like flags and used the empty cardboard cylinders to mime shooting.
Yells of; "I shot you in the chest!", "Did not! You missed!", and "This is our castle. Just try and take it from us!" drowned out the happy sounds of 'Its the Most Wonderful Time of Year.'
Face-palming, Optimus exclaimed loudly, "I was gone five minutes!"
Everyone stopped to look at him. Snickers. Unrepentant grins answered him. Evil little gremlins. The Prime would have to make sure some coal made it's way into the present pile. They would get a kick out of that.
"Join our side!" Raoul waved to get his attention, wrapping bandanna almost sliding off his real one.
Boos from the other side until Optimus raised empty palms and took a step back, "I don't think I should join. That would be unfair."
"But they have Prowl on their side!"
The hat group did indeed have the tactician. Coolly saluting, the Praxian settled a pretend flag against his shoulder and quirked a smile. Optimus gave him a look to make sure he knew who was handling this craziness before taking another step back. "Ratchet just called. Have to go."
Shouts of "Liar!", "Coward!", and "Noooo! Come back!" followed the Prime as he took off back out the door.