EmeraldMoonGreen asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)

Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I own nothing.

One Job Of A Leader

Red Alert wiped a hand over his metal brow as he continued working at his station, monitoring the cameras and writing up reports. While this in itself was normal to find him doing, it wasn't normal to see the Autobot looking exhausted.

Truth was, the paranoid bot had been overworking himself. Some of the other bots had noticed, but didn't dare disturb him as they didn't want to send Red Alert into a panic attack, which sometimes happened if he was sharply surprised.

But even Agent Fowler noticed how tired Red Alert looked. "Hey, Red Alert, maybe you should take a break," he said gently. "It's been pretty quiet lately."

The Autobot shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't take a break," he said and continued working on the reports and checking the cameras.

Normally, Fowler would have let it drop, but he had grown to where he saw the Autobots like his own men who worked for him and he knew that if you were too exhausted, you couldn't be at your best while working. He decided to let Optimus know and soon found the large bot sending the others on patrol. "Hey, Optimus," Fowler said, getting his attention. "I'd hate to add something else to your plate, but I think Red Alert needs a break. He's been working really hard and he looks like he just might fall asleep at his station."

"Ah, so I wasn't imagining him being exhausted," Optimus said. "Red Alert has been working overtime lately."

"I know you guys can go for a long time, longer than we humans can, but even a Cybertronian needs some down time," the liaison said.

"Yes, we do," the leader of the Autobots said. "Thank you, Agent Fowler. I will see to Red Alert."

The agent was about to leave, but decided to stay and watch how Optimus would handle the situation. He was curious and secretly wondering if Optimus' actions might be something he could use with his men sometime.

What he saw next made him almost break character and laugh out loud, but he managed to hide it as he quickly headed topside to get back and report to his superiors.

Optimus had also had little luck with getting Red Alert to stop working and so finally decided to literally take matters into his own hands by bodily picking up the paranoid bot from his station, tossing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and walking from the command center to the sleeping quarters.

Red Alert gave a cry of surprise as Optimus did that, but as soon as he was settled on his leader's shoulder, he began struggling. "Optimus! Sir! I must finish up my reports and monitor the cameras!" He protested, trying to get free, but the red and blue bot was too strong and ignored his protests of getting back to work. "Prime! Please! Put me down!"

"I will in a moment, Red Alert," Optimus promised, but tightened his grip on the bot a little, chuckling as Red Alert squirmed again.

"Sir! Someone will see us!"

"It's just you and me right now, soldier," the leader of the Autobot said, chuckling a little. "Rest assured, I wouldn't do something to embarrass you in front of the others."

"No, you wouldn't," Red Alert agreed. "But I still need to get back to my station, sir. Please."

"Nope."

They soon reached the sleeping quarters and Optimus stopped outside of the paranoid bot's room and entered, closing the door and locking it behind him before setting his friend down on his feet.

Quickly, Red Alert tried to bolt for the door, but that turned out to be a big mistake as Optimus easily caught him and pinned him down to the floor. "I know the perfect way to make you relax, Red Alert," he said.

The poor bot struggled to get free, but his leader was larger and stronger, thus having no trouble keeping the paranoid bot trapped underneath him. Optimus then raised his hands and reached for the mech's sides, resting his hands there before he smiled and started tickling him.

Now it was no secret that Red Alert was very ticklish, possibly one of the most ticklish bots on base, and he would instantly start laughing if he was tickled on any of his tickle spots. This proved true as the trapped Autobot began giggling as his sides were tickled and he covered his face, but those who knew him knew he did this mostly to hide his laughter.

But that didn't deter Optimus. "Cootchie, cootchie, coo, Red Alert!" He cooed in a teasing voice, chuckling as his victim squirmed and laughed, but didn't try to stop the tickle torture. "Oh? Is this little bot liking his tickle torture? Does he want more tickles?"

"DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHON'T-TEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEASE- AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-MEHEEHEEHEEHEE!" Red Alert managed to laugh out as he squirmed some more.

"Oh, I'm going to keep teasing you," Optimus promised with a chuckle. "Because you laugh so cutely. Tickle, tickle, tickle!"

The silver hands moved to Red Alert's stomach and began tickling him, making the poor bot giggle more and let out a small squeal when the red and blue Autobot began blowing huge raspberries into the red and white stomach. Red Alert squirmed again, but still didn't try to stop Optimus from tickling him.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Well, well, sounds like you're enjoying me tickling you," the leader of the Autobots said with a chuckle. "Now, how about those ticklish little knees of yours?"

Red Alert let out a squeak at that, now starting to struggle as Optimus reached for his knees and began tickling them, making the paranoid bot laugh his hardest and squirm around and struggle hard, but still he didn't really ask his leader to stop the tickle torture, something the larger bot noted. "Hmm," he hummed thoughtfully, now resting the tips of his fingers on the sides of Red Alert's stomach, growing amused as his victim continued giggling and squirming, even though he wasn't being tickled. "You're not going to ask me to stop?"

The ticklish bot didn't answer except to laugh when Optimus twitched his fingers on the ticklish stomach and the longer the red and blue Autobot did this, the louder and harder Red Alert laughed until he did grab his leader's hands, but he just held them there and kept laughing.

After a bit, the larger Autobot noticed that his friend was gasping for air and shedding tears from laughing so hard. "Alright, I think you've had enough of a tickle torture today," he said, but when he moved his hands, his victim burst into more giggles. Optimus tried again, getting the same result and realized that Red Alert would take a bit to fully calm down and so just rested his hands on the red and white stomach.

Finally, the tired mech calmed down, a big smile on his face and he looked up at his leader. "Guess I did need a break," he admitted.

"One of my jobs as leader is to make sure my friends don't overwork themselves," Optimus said, lifting Red Alert up into his arms and carrying him over to his berth. "By the way, I checked. There aren't any Scraplets in the room."

The paranoid bot shuddered a bit. "How did you all survive with those things in here?" He asked.

"We got rid of them with some teamwork and with the kids' help," the red and blue bot said, seeing his friend was about to fall asleep. He tucked the blankets in around the tried Autobot. "Rest well, Red Alert. And take tomorrow off. You have my permission."

"Thank you, Optimus," Red Alert said sleepily before he fell fast asleep and Optimus quietly left, smiling as he headed for his office.

He did enjoy his job as a leader, thanks to his friends.

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GoldGuardian2418