TITLE: On a Different Note: Christmas
SERIES: Imperfection Deviation
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)
FEEDBACK: Loved



The first Christmas with Sarah had been a wonderfully romantic event. Looking back now, Will Lennox knew they had been horribly sweet and over the top, hitting every cliché and they had been acting just like millions of Americans throughout their first Christmas as a couple. He should have had tooth rot afterwards. Instead they had been ridiculously happy, with their perfect tree, Christmas carols, Christmas dinner, old movies, tons of sugary goodness, and romantic candle light dinner.

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The first Army Christmas was not Qatar; it was Afghanistan. He sat together with over one hundred other men and women, colorful lights strung up in the mess hall tent, eating rather good food, listening to cheesy Christmas music, listening to others talking about home. He had read Sarah’s letter maybe half a dozen times already and he wore the silly Santa shirt she had sent him.

They had been married for three weeks. It had been a short honeymoon. Sarah had been understanding, or at least she had said she did; she had married a soldier.

Still, he would have wanted something different for this time of the year.

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Qatar was different because he was Captain by then. They were actually holed up in the ruins of an abandoned town, eating MREs, exchanging family stories.

It wasn’t bad.

He simply missed his wife.

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The first Christmas with Annabelle had been after Will had returned home from Mission City. It had been seven months after the events and while it had been surreal and like he had come back from another planet, he had still found enough peace by being with his family.

It had also meant Ironhide’s first Christmas. The Autobot had been rather amused when he hadn’t been confused. Will had slipped out of the house a few times, talking to his secret guest, smiling at his innocence when it came to human tradition.

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The first Christmas for Bumblebee had been throughout his time as a scout on the humans’ world. He had been on the planet for three years until he had located Sam and the glasses and things had been set into motion. Unlike his fellow Autobots he wasn’t startled by the humans’ behavior as Christmas time grew nearer, not shocked by traditions that made no sense, and the overwhelming ad campaigns, Christmas songs and festive spirit that was, according to some, just commercialism.

Bumblebee’s first Christmas with Sam was very special for him and he enjoyed being ‘out’, even if only to that one family, and being included. He played festive songs, surfed the internet for hilarious Christmas stuff, and was very amused when Sam gave him a pair of furry dice as a crack Christmas present.

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Will’s memories of family Christmas when he was a kid consisted of huge, wonderful smelling, fresh green trees his father had cut down in the forest together with his uncle. Decorating the tree had been an old tradition and everyone had helped, even if the tree had looked a bit lopsided most of the times.

His grandmother’s cookies had been fabulous and very rich, and his grandfather’s tales of Christmas Long Ago had been fascinating each and every time. He and his brother had snuck down on Christmas morning to try and open their presents. Their dad had always caught them.

As he grew older, the magic made way for reality, but family Christmas had been important.

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Jazz’s first Christmas was after his reactivation. He was like a kid in a candy store, as the humans would call it. He loved it all, played all kinds of different songs, from all over the world, and wanted to enjoy everything to the fullest.

Barricade watched it all with a tolerance no one might have expected from him. There might have been a smile once or twice, but it was hard to tell.

He drew the line at plastic sugar canes and Santa Clause plushies hanging from his rear view mirror. Jazz would have worn a red and white scarf and a Santa hat if it had been available in his size. Instead he changed seat color to festive green, red and white, and decorated the base for the scarce human visitors.

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Will’s first Christmas alone was right after the accident with the Allspark shard. He was now officially dead, his family would have to celebrate alone – if they even did celebrate after such a loss – and he spent the day at the almost empty base, working. Epps tried to coax him into having a drink and he finally joined his former team for a loud and boisterous hour of celebrations, then they had drifted apart.

He sat in the thrown together common room, sinking into the old couch, nursing a drink, feeling just a light buzz. Even back then alcohol had no longer influenced him.

When he finally walked out into the semi-dark and quiet base, he nearly fell over Ironhide. Lennox had found that he enjoyed his friend’s company and they drove into Las Vegas in the middle of the night and later watched the sunrise at Artist’s Point. Will was reclining on the mech’s hood, back against the windshield, thinking of nothing.

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Mike Bowman’s first Christmas with WiFi was rather special for both of them. While Bowman still had to get used to the whole matter of a tiny mech who had adopted him, WiFi was a hyperactive kid who had fallen in love with old black and white movies. He really dug the tear-jerking romance stuff, the orphans, the Disney fairy tale world, the jingles and carols, and he would insist to have a tree.

Bowman, the consummate bachelor and someone who had volunteered to work for holidays in the past, found himself highly amused and also drawn into the whole spirit of things.

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While Lennox found nothing to be jolly about ‘tis season, he still helped set up the base for each Christmas. The tree was in the common room – someone had liberally sprayed it in white foamy stuff and declared it was snow -- and while there were more soldiers each year, Christmas Day was usually a calm and quiet day. Everyone who had a family tried to be at home.

Will was always there.

At least until Ron Witwicky called and asked where the hell he was, what he was thinking spending this day alone, and to get his sorry ass over to the Witwicky home.

After two years in a row of getting an earful from either Judy or Ron, Will simply went with Sam on Christmas Day and enjoyed himself at the family dinner.

It was a family.

For him it was.

A family that consisted of alien life forms and mutated humans.

Crazy.

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With their relationship developing in leaps, getting so much closer and more intense, Ironhide became part and parcel of the Witwicky Christmas Dinner. Sam and Bumblebee were already together in a way no human could understand and while Lennox still struggled, lines were already blurring.

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By next Christmas the lines had disappeared. Actually, before Easter the lines had started to very much interweave.

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The lines had already disappeared and knotted so tightly that nothing could untangle them for Sam and Bumblebee. The mech had become part of the Witwicky home and family, and he had been accepted.

Lennox no longer had a family to worry about, and he was sure they wouldn’t have accepted Ironhide anyway.

Holidays meant nothing to the mechs, but living with the humans meant they were always in the middle of it all.

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The base grew more international, and so did the festivities. Instead of only the 25th of December, the 24th was included now, too, as was January 7th for those from eastern European religions. As it was, the 25th remained the main celebration day and the Christmas tree kept growing bigger and bigger.

It helped that a mech could easily cut down and transport the bigger trees.

Jazz was big on decorations and he roped others into it as well. Barricade was one of the few who escaped that scheme, mainly because he threatened to set the horrendous piece of tree on fire should Jazz so much as suggest he help.

Jazz simply called him ‘Scrooge’ and kept on playing carols.

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When it had become clear that what was between them was more than a loose relationship based on good interfacing, Christmas was… really nothing special. Will and Ironhide had never exchanged gifts of any kind and Lennox wouldn’t start doing so now.

Ironhide wasn’t Sarah. The feelings he had for the mech weren’t comparable to what he had felt for his ex-wife. He didn’t call it love, he didn’t have butterflies in his stomach, he wasn’t lovey-dovey. Nor was Ironhide.

They were simply together.

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The togetherness grew.

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It became something unbreakably tight.

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And then the hardlight holoform changed their level of interaction yet again, though Christmas was still nothing special.

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One year saw Barricade with a Santa Clause bumper sticker. No one dared to comment on it, smile, or even smirk.

Aside from Sam.

Who teased Barricade about it and lived to tell.

Jazz found it all hilarious and presented himself with a ginormous red and white scarf. He wouldn’t say where it had come from or how many craft shops had had a happy holiday because of rising wool sales.

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No one dared to mention the string of blinking Christmas lights they briefly saw on Barricade’s frame one day. The leftovers were simply very quietly removed.

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Jazz managed to get Barricade to spend the week after Christmas with him in the snow; scouting, as they called it.

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Sam and his parents went skiing that week between Christmas and New Year’s, inviting over Trent DeMarco. Trent had become part of the Witwicky family just like Lennox. While his leg didn’t allow him to ski, he enjoyed himself in a different way. Arcee had come along and adjusted her alternate mode as a snowmobile.

Bumblebee came along, too. He didn’t adjust his transformation, just kept close optics on the people he felt responsible for, and his bonded partner.

Will had declined. He wanted some peace and quiet after the whole discovery about his developing powers. Energy bubbles forming at his finger tips had seriously freaked him out. He might be able to hide the runes and glyphs under all the ski wear, but it was still too risky.

Ironhide kept him company.

That night was a new test for the holoform. No one at the base saw either of the two bonded for the whole day and Ratchet only shook his head, muttering about running low on energon.

Ironhide was rather pleased with the endurance of the hardlight hologram. He never mentioned the effect the active runes on Will’s body had on him.

It was private.

It was intimate.

It was intense.

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Lennox nearly fell off the kitchen stool he sat on sipping egg nog the day after Christmas. It was the homemade variant and rather strong, but alcohol, to him, was like soda.

“Say what?” he coughed, wiping liquid off his jeans.

“I wanted to know if you ever wanted us to interface like humans do.”

“I heard that! I’m still trying to wrap my head around the ‘fully articulate’ part!”

The holoform looked mostly human and the blue eyes that resembled almond-shaped optics held an innocent expression. Will was glad no one was around. He was in his private quarters – which were large enough to be called a house, with just as many rooms and an open space for Ironhide to walk into.

“This body is solid,” Ironhide stated.

“I know it and I enjoy it. I also like the interfacing part very much.”

Anyway, it usually started to get very hot very fast. Apparently the Allspark runes rushed things along quite nicely. His human reaction was still the same, but the sensations were… incredible.

“Wouldn’t you enjoy human sex?”

Will groaned. “Hide, please. It’s been how many years? I like the way it is. Very, very much.”

Did he miss having sex like humans did? He couldn’t say yes or no without a ‘but’. Of course he was still human. Of course he felt the human craving for physical contact. But the sensations he got from the interfacing were intense. As a protoform he could connect on a mech’s level. As a human being the hybrid status had given him a few extras. The headrush was way out there and anatomical reaction was just the same.

Ironhide came to stand before him, regarding him steadily. Will caught him and drew him close in a rare display of open affection. Human affection.

They had never kissed.

It just didn’t happen.

“This is okay, Hide. More than okay.”

Runes skittered over his skin and accumulated at their points of contact. Ironhide shivered.

They couldn’t explain the attraction; they couldn’t explain the sensations when they were together. It was simply good. Very, very good.

“It’s very good,” Will said out loud. “I want nothing to change.”

The day after Christmas turned out to be just as good as Christmas Day itself.