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The planet was completely white. Like color had been drained from it. Mechs and fems crowded around the console, just to get a glimpse of the strange planet. Rodimus watched them as he sipped his cube.
“Hi Rodimus!” Thunderclash said, bright smile on his faceplates. The red prime had to stop himself from scowling. “How is your morning?”
“It’s fine,” Rodimus said. The console’s holoscreen started to change. It was updating with the make up of the planet. Perceptor had sent a probe to gain a sample.
“This new planet is exciting!” Thunderclash said, “I wonder what it’s made of?” Rodimus didn’t answer and took a sip of his cube. He had a feeling about what the planet was made of. Snow was a rare thing where he was when he was stationed on Earth as Hot Rod.
He and Daniel loved those rare snow days. It was fun to build snow forts, pelt the other wreckers with snow balls, make snow angels, and build snow mechs and men. It was so much fun, just to forget the war, just for a moment.
“The planet is covered in water!” a voice in the crowd yelled.
“Water doesn’t look like that!” A different voice yelled.
“The planet is hovering just above freezing,” A third voice said.
Rodimus took a deep vent in, and a smile spread across his faceplates. It looked like a snow day was coming to the Lost Light.
“I wonder what happened to the water on that planet?” Thunderclash asked, “have you ever seen anything like it?”
“On Earth,” Rodimus said, before walking off. He had a proposal to Ultra Magnus to write up.
Thunderclash smiled as he made his way down to the launch bay. Rodimus was taking a group out to the strange planet, for something called a snow day.
The minute he heard about it, Thunderclash had poured into research about this strange Earth tradition. One would make strange things called snow angels and snow men. Groups would make forts and have battles called snowball fights.
Couples could go on walks in the snow or skate on a frozen body of water, and later cuddle with a hot beverage. Thunderclash thought that would be wonderful, and maybe he could confess his feelings to the prime. Maybe Rodimus would give him a chance, and more feelings could bloom. Though depending on how many mechs showed up, Thunderclash might not have a chance to be alone with Rodimus. His chance for a romantic snow day may not come to fruition.
Though, just a chance to be with Rodimus, a chance to see him smile would be good enough. Thunderclash could see the stress that Rodimus was under, even if no one else could. The red mech deserved so much, and Thunderclash wanted to be the one to give it to him.
“Hello Captain!” Thunderclash said in a cheerful voice as the prime came into view.
“Thunderclash,” Rodimus said, “you're here… early.”
“I just wanted to help before the trip!” Thunderclash said, “what can I do?” Rodimus took a deep breath in before looking around.
“Everything is pretty much done already,” Rodimus muttered, “I just need to put the back up energon cubes in the ship in case of some emergency.”
“I can get those!” Thunderclash said eagerly, “I’ll be right back with them!”
“Great,” Rodimus muttered.
“When I get back, you could tell me about the snow day!” Thunderclash said.
“Sure,” Rodimus muttered quietly as the brightly colored mech ran off, “would absolutely love to do that.”
The exploration ship landed in the snow, crunching underneath the ship's weight. Rodimus took a deep invent in. Thunderclash was next to him, the only mech to have shown up for this snow day. Not his ideal snow day, but he could tolerate it. At least he didn’t have to deal with the Thunderclash fan club.
“So what do we have first on our agenda?” Thunderclash asked, optics focused on Rodimus. The red prime smirked, an idea filling his head.
“Ever heard of a snow fort?” Rodimus asked slyly.
“No, I haven’t,” Thunderclash said, “why would someone make a fort out of snow? What advantage would that have?”
”It’s not for actual defense,” Rodimus said, “it’s for a game.”
“Oh!” Thunderclash said, “what kind of game?”
“I’ll explain later,” Rodimus said, “Follow me.” Rodimus got out of the pilot’s chair, and engaged the ramp. Thunderclash followed, hesitantly but with some curiosity.
When Rodimus stepped out into the snow, the cold was the first thing he could feel. There was a light snowfall, each snowflake sizzling off of his plating as they made contact. It felt like he was on Earth, back when he was Hot Rod. Back when he didn’t have many cares in the world.
“It’s beautiful out here captain,” Thunderclash said, now standing next to Rodimus.
“Snow can be beautiful,” Rodimus said, “but we’re not out here just to admire. We have forts to build!”
“How are we going to build forts out of snow?” Thunderclash asked, “It doesn’t seem like good building material.”
”Don’t worry about it,” Rodimus said, “but watch me. What you’re going to do is build up the snow like this!” Rodimus walked farther away from the ship and knelt down. Thunderclash followed, and tilted his helm. The red mech started packing snow into a bracket shape. As he got the outline of the fort, Rodimus started to pack the snow upward, like a wall.
“I think I understand,” Thunderclash said.
“Great!” Rodimus said, “Now start making one across from me!”
”Alright,” Thunderclash said, walking to an area across from Rodimus. He tried his best to make the fort like Rodimus was. The red mech watched as the brightly colored one was working hard on his fort. The mech was just so focused, Rodimus couldn’t help but laugh.
”What’s funny?” Thunderclash asked, looking up from from his fort building. Rodimus looked at the fort for a minute, and decided that it was big enough from the outside to hide Thunderclash’s frame.
“Snowball fight! No rocks, no ice!” Rodimus yelled as he threw a snowball right at Thunderclash’s face plates.
“What?” Thunderclash asked through snow, stunned as the red mech ducked behind his snow fort to grab another snowball. Rodimus popped up and threw another snowball. This time, Thunderclash ducked.
“I get it now,” Thunderclash said, whipping the snow off his faceplates as he formed a sphere, “This is a game!” Popping back up, Thunderclash threw the snowball at Rodimus. The ball went over the captain’s helm.
”You got to do better than that!” Rodimus yelled. Throwing another snow ball, Thunderclash was hit on the shoulder.
“Well the next one won’t miss!” Thunderclash yelled. Rodimus laughed, and the sound was magical to the brightly colored mech’s audials.
Rodimus rested his helm on the Thunderclash’s shoulders. The mech wasn’t too bad, without the fan club around him. After a long day of snowball fights, snow angels, and a lumpy snow mech, it had turned into a pretty nice day.
“So do all snow days end with warm energon?” Thunderclash asked after taking a sip of energon.
“The good ones do,” Rodimus said, sipping his own energon.
“Next time we come across a snowy planet, we should take another snow day,” Thunderclash said.
“We should,” Rodimus said, a smile on his faceplates.