Maxie would have crossed his arms over his chest, but they were currently tied together. Instead, the red head could only pout as Archie wrapped another blue and white ribbon around him.
At least he hasn't broken out any Star of David wrapping paper yet, Maxie thought. Though, knowing Archie and all his man child ways, there was a likely chance that Archie would pull some out.
"You know," Maxie said, his eyes wondering from Archie's face to the door, "this is ridiculous, even for you, Archie."
Archie only hummed in reply, his eyes remaining down on his work. His dark skinned hands worked ever on, knotting the ribbon over Maxie's skin in his so called gift to himself. Soon, the humming turned into what sounded vaguely like a song, some sort of mix of "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel" and one of his ridiculous pirate songs.
"Someone could come in and see us," Maxie said.
"I gave Matt and Shelley the day off," Archie replied.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Maxie's frown deepened. "Knowing those two," he continued, "they're probably wrecking havoc on the city."
"You should give them a bit more credit. Those two would never do that - well, Shelley wouldn't." Archie smirked. "Really, if either of them were looking for me, do you think that they'd check in your office at Magma Headquarters?"
Maxie rolled his eyes. "Courtney and Tabitha are still here." At least he hoped they were. If either heard that Archie was in Team Magma Headquarters then surely they'd go looking for him. After all, it wasn't every day that Archie came inside.
Archie turned silent again. He continued wrapping an unholy amount of ribbon around Maxie. Maxie didn't know which was stranger, the fact that Archie came all the way to Team Magma's base (former enemies or not, neither liked the others' headquarters, which was either landlocked or surrounded by the sea) or the fact that he had bought enough ribbon for surely eight gifts. Knowing him, he probably didn't even blink an eye when he bought all of that ribbon.
"You know," Maxie said, his voice a little higher than normal, just as Archie began to put ribbon up over his head, "Chanukah doesn't even start until sundown."
Archie chuckled. "I know. I'm just wrapping my gift early." Tying his last knot, a bow that sat perfectly on Maxie's head, he picked Maxie up with ease. "Though I might keep you for more than eight nights."
Maxie felt his cheeks go red and body go limp. "Well-"
"What, did you have other holiday plans?" Archie's smirk nearly covered his whole face.
Maxie almost felt like coming up with a lie, but stopped himself. "You just better take this off of me soon. This ribbon is kind of itchy."
"I'd be more than happy to unwrap you," Archie replied before giving a low chuckle.
Archie carried him out of the office. After turning down a few hallways, Maxie saw Courtney and Tabitha.
Tabitha had replaced his usual red Team Magma sweater for a white turtleneck with royal blue trimming.
Courtney, still dressed in her admin uniform, looked at the two men for a moment, then returned her eyes to the large book that she was reading. It was only when the two passed them by that Courtney spoke, her voice echoing through the hallway. "So do we finally get that holiday vacation you promised us?"