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"What is this?" Starscream demanded, walking into their shared apartment.
"It’s a Christmas tree!" Bumblebee said, a huge grin on his face.
"Ugh," Starscream scoffed, turning away and walking towards the cupboard. "I don’t suppose i can convince you to throw that thing in the smelter," it wasn’t a question. Starscream had been through this with Bee enough times to know that it wasn’t worth the battle. As much as he hated to admit it — refused to, actually — he couldn’t resist when Bee gave him that look. He pulled out the good energex and poured himself a cube.
"Oh come on Star! Give it a chance!"
"Is this another one of those stupid Earth holidays?" he asked, leaning back against the counter to examine the green metal sculpture as he took a sip.
"It’s not stupid! I think you’ll really like this."
"Oh sure."
"We can decorate the tree together, and sing Christmas carols, build a gingerbread house-"
"I’m still waiting to hear the part you believe i would enjoy."
"Well we can eat rust sticks and then on Christmas morning we get to open presents."
"Presents?"
"Yes! Santa Clause brings everyone on Earth presents! I’m sure if we decorate the tree, he’ll come here too," Bumblebee said with a huge grin.
Starscream raised an optical ridge at him with an incredulous look, "Bumblebee, if you really believe that, I’m going to call Ratchet to examine you."
Bumblebee sighed, "Ok, so maybe Santa Clause isn’t real, but we can get gifts for each other. And it’s still fun to pretend. Come on Star, pllleeeeaaaaasssee?"
It was Starscream’s turn to sigh. There was that look. Well, the idea of presents and rust sticks didn’t sound that bad. Besides, doing something to make Bee happy usually worked out very well for him. "All right, we can have Christmas," he said, making sure to convey his reluctance.
"You won’t regret it Star! You’ll see! We’ll have so much fun!" the minibot bounded over to grab his hand and drag him over to the 'Christmas tree’ as he chattered enthusiastically about all the Christmas traditions he wanted to observe.
***
The next week was filled with shimmering lights, bad Earth movies about the holidays, terrible music, and lots of sweet treats. Starscream didn’t mind the sweets, everything else he could live without. But it made Bumblebee happy, and he liked seeing Bee happy. Not that he would ever admit that.
Bee had gotten him three gifts. It was adorable honestly, he was terrible at being sneaky. Starscream had found two of them hidden around their apartment, but he was sure there was a third. He found himself actually excited for Christmas morning.
Of course, he had some surprises of his own planned.
Starscream left the office early on the night before Christmas, looking forward to spending some time alone with Bumblebee. Windblade had been even more obnoxious than normal lately and he could use a vacation.
"Merry Christmas!" Bumblebee exclaimed as soon as he walked through the door.
"What is on your-" Bumblebee threw a fuzzy red hat on his head that matched the one he was wearing before he could finish his sentence.
"It’s a Santa hat!"
Starscream just glared at him as the white fluff ball on his hat fell in his face.
"I got you your favorite energon treats," Bumblebee said, bounding off into the kitchen.
Starscream sighed, adjusting the hat to it’s least annoying position and making his way to the couch. He looked up at Christmas tree, covered with delicate glass ornaments and bright multi coloured lights. It wasn’t the most horrible thing Bee had brought into their apartment, he supposed. Starscream noticed three brightly coloured boxes tucked in under the tree. With a smirk, he pulled his own gift for Bee from his subspace, placing it under the tree before going back to the couch.
"I have energon goodies, rust sticks, copper crisps, and hot spiced energon!" Bee said, coming into the living room with a tray loaded with goodies.
"I could get used to this," Starscream said, picking up one of the cubes. Bumblebee sat down, curling up at his side with the other cube.
"Me too," Bumblebee smiled. "Do you want to watch a Christmas movie?"
"Another one? How many are there?"
"Lots!"
Starscream tried not to scowl. He didn’t do a very good job.
"Or… if you’d rather, we can build a gingerbread house."
Starscream had no idea what a gingerbread house was, but it had to be better than another one of those horrible movies about humans finding the 'Christmas sprit.' "All right, fine."
"It’s going to be so fun!" Bumblebee exclaimed, bouncing up off the couch. "I couldn’t get gingerbread, obviously, but I talked to Mirage, and he was able to make something even better!" Bee came back a moment later, placing a bright green box on the table. "So I told mirage what a gingerbread house is, and he made this!"
Starscream picked up one of the objects from the box. It looked like a rust stick, but it was flat and rectangular.
"The best part is, we can actually eat it when we’re done! No! Not yet!" Bee stopped him as he was about to take a bite out of the rust sheet.
"You said we could eat it."
"When we’re done. We need to build the gingerbread house first."
"Won’t that make it hard to eat?"
"It’s fun!" Bee promised, pulling out the various components out of the box. There were several more rust sheets, some thick energon gel, and several kinds of brightly coloured energon goodies.
It took almost an hour to put together the little house. Starscream frowned at it slanted to one side, "It’s crooked."
"I like it. It gives it character."
"That seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to eat it."
Bee rolled his optics, "It’s supposed to be fun Star."
"Eating it would have been more fun," he muttered, trying to push up the little house to get it to stand straight.
"Hey, what’s that?" Bumblebee asked, walking over to sit by the tree. "Is this for me?"
"No presents till Christmas morning!" Starscream snatched the gift back, placing it back under the tree.
"What did you get me?"
"You’ll have to wait till tomorrow. Why are you staring at me like that? You’re the one who told me that was the rule."
"I’m just surprised. I mean, I’m so glad you got me something Star."
"You didn’t think I would?"
"No! I mean, no, I just- I didn’t mean- I’m just really happy Star."
Starscream stared at him for a moment, then shrugged, poking one of the bright glass ornaments on the 'tree'. "I know it wasn’t necessary. You get to spend time with me after all, and that’s the greatest gift you could get."
Bumblebee smiled, then reached up to tug on Starscream’s arm, "Come down here. The tree looks really pretty from the ground." Starscream made a face that showed exactly what he thought of that idea. "Come on! Gifts do belong under the tree after all," Bee added with a wink.
After a moment’s consideration, Starscream sighed, lowering himself to sit next to Bee. No sooner had he done so, than Bee lay down, his helm under the tree itself, urging Starscream to follow. "Isn’t it pretty?" Bee asked, looking up through the branches.
"I suppose."
"I miss it sometimes."
"What?"
Bee shrugged, "Earth, I guess. My time on the Ark, the other Autobots?"
"You mean the four million year war? Trying to kill each other all the time? Never being able to relax or let down your guard for fear of being stabbed in the back?" Starscream’s tone grew more bitter as he spoke.
Bumblebee turned his helm to look at him, after a moment, finding his hand and entwining their fingers together, "No, not that part." He watched him for a moment, as Starscream gazed up at the lights woven through the tree. "I forget sometimes," Bee said softly. "How much different it was for you. With… everything."
Starscream didn’t answer, or look at him, but Bumblebee felt him squeeze his hand, just enough so he could barely feel it.
"It’s better now. With you."
Starscream scoffed, "Well of course. Everything’s better with me."
Bee smiled. "You know," he said after a moment. "Some Earth cultures do unwrap one gift on Christmas Eve."
"Do they now?"
"I mean, if you wanted to, we could do that now."
"Well if you insist," Starscream said, rolling over and moving to straddle Bee’s hips. "I suppose I could 'unwrap' one of my gifts," Starscream said with a low chuckle.
"What? No, that wasn’t what I m-" Starscream cut him off with a kiss.
"You were saying?"
"On second thoughts, that’s exactly what I meant," Bee smiled, reaching up to pull Starscream in for another kiss.
***
"Bee, wake up."
"Hmm?" Bumblebee online his optics slowly. "What…?"
"We need to go to our berth. We fell asleep under the tree."
"Oh. We can stay here though. It’ll be like a Christmas slumber party," Bee mumbled, not wanting to get up.
"You told me Santa Clause won’t deliver our gifts if everyone’s not in bed. Come on."
"Hmm? Star-"
"Don’t make me carry you Bumblebee."
Bee sighed, reluctantly pulling himself to his feet. "Ok, I’m going," he protested as Starscream practically shoved him down the hallway to their berthroom.
Starscream slid under the covers next to him and Bee immediately cuddled up next to him. "I love you Star," he murmured.
Starscream hesitated just for a moment before putting his arm around him, "Same."
***
Bee woke up feeling warm and happy the next morning, snuggled comfortably against Starscream’s side. He pulled the blanket closer around him, sighing contently. He was about to offline his optics for another hour of recharge when he remembered the gifts under the tree. "Starscream?" he asked softly. "Starscream, wake up, it’s Christmas."
"Mmmh."
"Staaar," Bee sang his name. "Come on Star, it’s time to open presents!"
"The presents will wait. It’s too early," Starscream murmured.
"Don’t you want to see what I got you?"
That was enough to prompt him to online his optics.
"I’ll make a couple cubes of hot sweet energon," Bee said persuasively. "And we can eat the gingerbread house, and lots of other sweets."
"You’re not going to sing anymore of those terrible songs are you?"
Bee grinned at him, "It’s not Christmas without carols! Come on!" He climbed over Starscream, hopping off the bed and held out a hand, "Don’t you want to see what I got you?"
Starscream smirked, "All right, I suppose if there’s presents involved." He shivered as he pulled off the blankets. He grabbed one, wrapping it around his shoulders before following an excited Bumblebee into the living room.
"What…"
Starscream walked past a stunned looking Bee, tossing only a passing glance at the mound of gifts that had materialized overnight under the tree as he went to sit on the couch.
"Where did these come from?"
Starscream shrugged, making himself comfortable, "You said Santa Clause brings presents on Christmas Eve."
"Yeah but…"
"I thought you promised me some sweetened hot energon."
"Did you do this?" Bumblebee asked, finally looking away from the assortment of brightly coloured gifts.
"Of course not!" Starscream snapped. "Do I look like Santa Clause to you?!"
Bumblebee couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face, "Nope. You’re much more beautiful. Thank you, Star," he said, walking over to give Starscream a hug. It could have been his imagination, but Bee swore it took longer than normal for Star to push him away with some flippant remark about getting his energon.