Chapter Text
You shouldn’t have been here, you shouldn’t have seen it, and you sure as hell should have made sure the flash on your camera was off before snapping a picture with your phone. Your curiosity while cruising to enjoy the cool dry air of the Nevada night led you to an abandoned warehouse that glowed bright blue. Not just any bright blue, but club lights blue. You weren’t much of a club person, but going to one of those silent discos would be an enjoyable time. What you found instead of a bunch of people dancing to whatever club music was playing throughout everyone’s headphones, was three large robots hunched over a box with whatever was lighting up the inside of the large box that neon cyan. And with curiosity at seeing something you shouldn’t have seen, you pulled your phone out for a personal picture when horror flooded your veins as the flash went off.
Now you were trying to out drive the blaster fire on your motorcycle, keeping your pattern serpentine trying to figure out where you could escape to. You’d pissed off these giant robots and judging by how intensely they followed you and shot at you, they didn’t seem very keen to try and negotiate the misunderstanding. There were no bridges you could duck under, no homes you could drive to because they would probably smash the house you would hide in. Hell, you couldn’t run into any building because it would likely get demolished with these robots hunting you down. Your little studio apartment was off limits, no reason to have what little personal belongings you owned being destroyed. So you weaved between each shot and the thundering steps of the giant robots that transformed into cars to follow and shoot after you.
Maybe if you drove far enough you would find a ditch to hide in or loony-toon their metal asses and try and find a way back home so you could attempt to return to your normal life tomorrow. Not likely, at this rate, but you could hope.
You almost missed the two cars driving towards you, headlights bright and blinding as you swerve to try and either drive in between them or around them and lose control of your bike. The next few seconds are a blur as you remember letting go of the throttle as your bike hits a pothole, your wheels go end over end, and you go flying. Grateful for the protective gear you wore, dressed for an accident as your helmeted head clunks hard against the pavement and you roll and slide against the barrier of the freeway. Though the thought was brief and fleeting, you wished you had splurged for a helmet cam of any kind to rewatch what all happened after you crashed. As you laid splayed out on the asphalt, you heard loud grinding and thunking as the ground shakes underneath you. The sound of laser beams and aggressively loud metal grinding added to strangeness of your night so far. The adrenaline flooding your nervous system made you ignore whatever injuries you more than likely sustained in the accident to try and see what what going on. As you try to sit up to look for your motorcycle that had slid about ten feet from you on your side, you realized that your arm wasn’t working like it should have been. Taking an ill advised look down, you see that it was very much not bent the right way. You muttered to yourself something along the lines of “Oh… That’s bad?” Then you looked up to see an ambulance roll up. “I’m fine? Insurance doesn’t cover the wee-woo wagon…” Then, as the adrenaline leaves your body, the ambulance transforms into one of those giant robots just as you pass out.
When you come to the next day, as much as you think its the next day, your first thought is the hefty medical bill that you know is waiting for you. What you expected to see was the blinding white of a hospital room and the cushioned yet uncomfortable mattress pad underneath you, you expected to hear the soft beeps of hospital equipment and the busy shuffling of nurses and doctors running up and down the halls, the smell of that one hospital hand sanitizer. But when you opened your eyes, you saw grey. Lost of grey. And it smelled dusty, loud mechanical grinding sounds filled the echoey room you were in. When you tried to sit up, you noticed that your right arm was in a crude sling, and the migraine you knew you had made even the dim lighting of this dusty room you were in feel like standing front and center in the spotlight of an old theatre. Swearing and attempting to look around despite the ache in your eyes and neck, the mechanical grinding noises stopped. The sounds of thudding caught your attention as two large robots towered over you. Red and blue, and red and white, both with these off-putting yet entrancing eyes.
Now, you never considered yourself to be afraid of the monumentality of large objects. You’d been to New York climbed to the top of the torch at the Statue of Liberty. You’d seen General Sherman, You’ve seen a humpback whale surfacing while in a dinghy, you’ve been sky diving! But seeing these two massive robots just staring at you silently was genuinely skeeving you out and scaring you… You were hoping you had died and now were having some insane post death dreams.
“Do not panic, we mean you no harm.” The rumbling bass of the larger robot vibrated your bones and aggravated your migraine, confirming that you were, in fact, not dead. “We are the Autobots. We have rescued you from the Decepticons that were chasing after you. You are safe in our care.” Looking at the one who spoke, you noticed more features that looked a little strange, though that thought was swiftly discarded as the overhead lights painfully shone directly into your eyes. “My name is Optimus Prime, the one who has been caring for you so far is Ratchet, our resident medic. Bumblebee and Smokescreen were the ones who made sure the Decepticon scouts did not follow us back to our base.” He looked towards the red and white robot, who had to be Ratchet considering he was the only other robot you could see, who only gave him a steely stare as he continued, “You were in a vehicular accident attempting to outrun Decepticon foot soldiers. Because of what you may have potentially witnessed, we were advised to not take you to a human hospital. I do not want to overwhelm you, so I will say one last thing before I let Ratchet continue to monitor your health. There are a few humans who know of our existence, one of them is a human man who will want to speak to you soon, his name is Special Agent William Fowler.” You nodded along, lost but trying to comprehend what was going on. “Do you have any questions for me?”
Despite Optimus not wanting to overwhelm you, the compounding pain radiating from your broken arm and whatever was going on with your neck was intensifying your migraine. You covered your eyes with your good arm and took steadying breaths, the table you were laying on was intensely uncomfortable, making everything hurt more. “Can…” You tried to hold back a cough, knowing it would make your migraine worse, but you realized that you were parched after you had a harsh coughing fit. “Water?” Your arm ached something fierce, every time you turned your neck even a little made lightning bolts of pain race from the base of your skull to your eyebrows, and it was making you nauseous.
Ratchet grumbled and stepped away, saying something about June and organics, whatever that was supposed to mean, before returning with a bucket of lukewarm water. “I will not hinder Ratchet’s care of you. When you are feeling better, I will have Special Agent William Fowler speak to you.” And he walked off, the sounds of his massive footsteps entirely too loud in your over sensitive ears. Everything fucking hurt. Head to toe, front to back, inside and definitely outside. You were sure you were given no painkillers and whatever meds were in your bike bag were MIA.
You moaned out in pain, far beyond normal discomfort as one by one you assessed what hurt and what was causing you distress. There was nothing you could do to feel any less bad, the pain making you cry from the several unresolved ailments. “Pain… painkillers?” you whined out.
“I’m calling in a nurse to help you. I’ll make sure she brings painkillers.” His tone wasn’t as irritated as it sounded before you started carefully writhing on the table, he sounded reluctant to need to call for extra help.
…
At some point you passed out and when you woke up next, you were laying reclined on a hospital bed with a proper cast on your arm and hooked up to an iv bag and a heart monitor. On the TV, there was a basketball game playing, was it already basketball season? To your right you saw a man sitting and reading the newspaper. “Finally awake. How are you feeling?” You furrowed your brows lightly and tried to give him a proper once over, but too much movement made your eyes ache.
“Hurt… hungry…” You rasped out.
“I would be too after what you went through. What all can you recall before you woke up here?”
“Robots… Something Opti… Prime? Rat shit? Big ass robots, but it felt more like a dream.” He hummed, “I… I don’t remember what I was doing before…”
“You were in a pretty bad accident. Must’ve hit your head pretty hard.” You grumbled a hum as he began asking you some questions about your personal life. You were on your own in Jasper. Not that you were forced to, you just preferred to do things on your own. You moved where the winds took you, and for some unknown reason, they brought you to Nevada so you could work at the local grocery store. You also did some freelance to pay the bills, and seeing as how you were laid up in a hospital bed, you were going to have to rely on your freelancing until your arm healed. “Who are you?”
“Ah, right.” He adjusted his chair so he was more in your line of sight and so you wouldn’t have to strain your neck. “I am Special Agent William Fowler, but you can call me Bill.” The name rung a bell, It might’ve been from the red and blue robot. “Now, what you saw was an experimental program the US government is running. And you got caught up in the middle of it. Unfortunately I cannot let you return to your normal life for security reasons,” He leaned forward in his seat. “so instead I’m going to offer you a new job. It’s something you can do while you’re recovering.”
You hummed and narrowed your eyes at Fowler. “An offer I can’t refuse?”
“Right on the money.” You sighed and leaned back.
“Benefits?”
“You aren’t arrested for colluding with the enemy, being labeled as a domestic terrorist, and making you disappear.” He waved his hands for emphasis.
“No, I mean…” You paused to cough and groan at the strain it put on your neck and migraine, “I mean health insurance.”
“Ah, that.” He cleared his throat, “The best the government can provide you.”
“Do I have to pay my taxes if I say yes?” He laughed, but you were serious. You accidentally crashed and these giant robots picked you up, if you needed to turn a blind eye to these giant robots, the government can turn a blind eye to you not paying them taxes. “I want it in writing that I don’t have to pay my taxes if I accept.”
“I’ll see to it that you’re exempt from the IRS. Now, I need you to do one last thing for me.” You nodded, curious about what he could possibly want from you now. “Get some rest kid.” You groaned and rolled your eyes, of course, it was dad joke.
“Yes sir. Wait, you don’t even know my name.” You were pretty sure you hadn’t mentioned it to him.
“No need. I have your files. You will need a new name for security purposes, so I guess other than rest, come up with something new. I’ll try and visit when I’m able to before they set you loose.”
“Thanks. I guess I’ll try to think of something new.”
With that, he left.
…
When you were finally discharged with your medication in hand, you saw an all black SUV that was waiting for you, likely your ride as you saw a man in a black suit step out and open the door, gesturing for you to get in. Climbing in and sitting next to the secret service member already inside, you were sandwiched in between both men. You saw Fowler sitting in the passenger’s seat and another suited man in the driver’s seat. He turned to look back at you, “So, have you picked out a new name yet?”
“Yeah, I think so… I think—” Before you could even utter it, there were several cars that had boxed in your one SUV. “Bill… We’re being followed?”
“Those would be our escorts, though I only told Prime we needed one car, not five.” Looking out of both windows, you saw a yellow and black Camaro following a sporty blue and white coupe on one side and a red dodge challenger following a motorcyclist on the other. You would turn your head to check behind you but the doctors told you to take it easy with too much rotation. “They seem eager to want to meet you.”
The drive there was smooth and uneventful. At least until you approached a large rock formation and were being driven off road. “Woah, hey, Bill where the hell are we going?” Driving into the rocky hillside, you closed your eyes for a brief moment waiting to get crushed when you found that you were not only alive, but inside a large grey building. Likely the grey building you had intitally woken up in before you were transferred to the main hospital. The man to your left stepped out and held the door open you for you, and that’s when you saw three kids step out of the vehicles you saw earlier, a young kid with glasses, a taller teenage boy dressed plainly, and a young girl with dyed pigtails. “Uhh… Bill? I’m no rocket physician, but if this super secret government program is as dangerous as you led me to believe, then why the hell are there kids here?”
“I’m not a kid! I’m 15 years old!”
“Yeah, we’re not kids! I have a job!”
“I mean, we are techincally still kids…”
All three spoke at the same time. Then, before Fowler could say anything else, the cars that the kids came out of, and ones that were following you just… changed. Transformed if you will. And much like the last time you saw one of them transform, nothing made sense any more than last time. “Bill… does the SUV we rode in also transform?”
“No. Fortunately.” He cleared his throat and stepped next to the kids. “These three are a part of our Junior Accelerated Mentorship program. Rafael Esquivel, Jack Darby, and Miko Nakadai.”
“Okay…”
Looking up at the two that had transformed, their heights made you dizzy. Though that could have been your migraine flaring from the bright lights above them. It turns out that these transformers— there was really no other thing you could call them other than robots, and that felt wrong for some reason— came in different sizes. The tallest of them was a red, silver, and blue one. If your memory served you decently, then that one was the leader of this group, something Prime? Optimist Prime? You knew it started with Opti-something. Then the red and white one that you also vaguely remember was… Ratchet? That had to be right. Ratchet was nowhere to be seen. Leaving the yellow one, the green one, and the shorter blue one that looked to be the only feminine one as the ones the kids were riding in. Somehow you missed the other transformers that had either been in the building when you arrived or transformed after you stepped out. So there were maybe six of them that you could see.
And the tallest one was standing off to the side.
“It took forever for you get out of the hospital, the only thing Fowler told us about you was that you were an adult and not look through your boxes. By the way, I’m borrowing your Jimi Hendrix cd! I promise to bring it back once I’m done listening to it.” Miko smiled brightly before the large green transformer took a step closer.
“Augh, Miko!”
“I said I’ll give it back when I’m done listening to it, Bulk!”
You took a step back and shook your head and your good hand. “Wait wait wait. Bill, what exactly is this job you going to have me doing?” You pinched the bridge of your nose, you could feel another migraine coming on. “Ugh, I need to sit down, it’s too bright in here.”
“You need some Tylenol?” Jack asked and reached into his pocket and grabbed a small sample pack of the pain killer and handed it to you. “Sometimes I get headaches at work.” You mumbled a thanks and tore into the package before dry swallowing the pill down. “Ah… I guess you don’t need any water…”
“So what kinds of hobbies do you have? I mean we moved your stuff but other than reading, do you do anything fun?” Miko got started rambling off a bunch of questions at a mile a minute. “I saw that you used to go skydiving, what was that like? What the highest you’ve jumped from? Do you also do base jumping?”
“Bill, is there somewhere I can sit? I need to sit down, like, right now.” He nodded and guided you to a set of stairs. “No no, I can’t do stairs.”
“Bee, can you grab the couch?” The youngest spoke to the yellow and black transformer, and soon a worn out couch was placed next to you, giving you much needed respite once you sat down.
“Okay okay…” The other transformers that were standing around you looked on with concern. So far you knew exactly two of them, maybe three of them if you count Rafael calling the yellow one ‘Bee’. “Bill, What am I going to be doing here? I see three kids with no adult supervision and I’m worried you only hired me as a babysitter.”
“We don’t need to be babysat!” Miko exclaimed. “If you seen what we’ve been through, you would see that we’re perfectly fine without an adult!” Before she or Jack could go on, she was interrupted by Fowler.
“No, not babysitters. See, the Autobots need a boots on the ground liaison for access and to maintain their cover as cars. The kids do well, but there are some places that an adult is necessary.” Then the deep rumbling voice of the leader spoke up.
“Agent Fowler had told us about your previous occupations, your ability to perform a variety of different jobs will aid us greatly when we need to remain inconspicuous. We have met previously, though you had just been in an accident and likely do not remember me. My name is Optimus Prime, and I am the leader of the Autobots here on Earth.” He kneeled down to one massive knee, halving his height but still towering over you. “While I would like to fill you in on the nuances of what you will be doing here, in your current state, it is better to have you rest.”
“He’s right. While you were in the hospital, we had your personal belongings moved here. Unfortunately, you won’t be slummin’ in a studio apartment anymore. Fortunately, I hear this place has free rent and a built in washer and dryer.” You let out a small huff of amusement. “Prime, mind taking this one to their new home?”
“It would be my pleasure.” And you watched as he folded in on himself and turned into a semi truck cab. Well, you did have your CDL still. The kids were mostly talking to themselves as Fowler helped you into the cab, then you climbed in himself.
…
The short drive there was uneventful but you realized that the 2-3 minute drive would easily be 15-ish minutes on foot, Optimus must have realized this too because he spoke up as you were getting out of his cab. “While the children have Autobot guardians, it would be wise to get to know the other members of my team so they could help you get around the base.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” You looked back and saw that Optimus had transformed back to standing before taking a knee to get closer to your level. “Thanks for the ride, Optimus.”
“It is no problem. I have been informed that the name you previously used has changed, what may I call you now?” You realized that you actually hadn’t told your new name to Fowler either, so you let the two of them know before turning and looking at your new home. Optimus informed you that he would be talking Fowler back to the main area that the two of you drove into so he could fill out paperwork. Leaving you to get settled in.
All of your furniture was here, the couch and oversized beanbag, your bed that you knew you wouldn’t sleep on much, and your fridge. Next to the kitchenette was your combined washer and dryer, and with how big your fridge was, it made the other appliances look small. At least with your rented studio the bathroom was separated from the rest of the studio, but here the shower and toilet were in a corner along with the smallest sink you’ve ever seen. It felt like you had moved from one studio to another considering the size. New government job with nice and shiny benefits but no bathroom versus being locked up and labeled a terrorist with a more uncomfortable studio prison cell… This room was much nicer.
There was no telling when Fowler would start giving you actual work so you went about looking for where they packed your blankets and pillows so you could curl up on the beanbag and go to sleep.
The next day you woke up to a knock at your door, and momentarily you forgot that your life had been moved to a secret Autobot base hidden inside a large rock. Groaning as you scooted off the beanbag chair and hobbled to the door, you were greeted by three bright-eyed tweens and one adult woman. “Hi, I’m June, Jack’s mother. I figured that you might like a little housewarming gift while the kids help you unpack.” She held out a basket with a few bottles of wine, a couple bags of chips and crackers, and two containers of those chocolate wafer straws.
“Aww, thank you June. Yeah, you all can come in. June you can just set that on the counter for now, I’ve only got one hand.” She laughed and walked in after the three kids as they each started opening boxes. “Hey, if you see a light green box with a large orange leaf sticker on it, just set it on my bed, I’ll look through it later.” Turning back to June, she gave you a knowing look and laughed. “Hey when you live on your own, you gotta make things work, y’know?”
“I’m not judging, I get it.”
The two of you held a light conversation as your stuff was slowly unpacked and sorted into decorations and trinkets, kitchenware, and clothes. Your last apartment had a closet to hang everything in, but with this studio being a literal box, you would need to get a garment rack for your clothes and shoes. And you needed to get a sun lamp, the cool fluroescent overhead lights and lack of windows meant there was no way to really know what time it was visually. You’d also need to get a real big clock to put on the wall, something that would be easy to read at a glance. And a rug so you wouldn’t step on bare concrete in the middle of the night to go pee. Or multiple rugs so that it felt a lot more cozy and less echoey, and you needed to get a curtain for the ‘bathroom’… Okay so there were quite a few things you needed to get to make this box a home.
“Hey June, on one of your days off, would you be able to help me pick out some stuff to make my new place feel more like a home and not a warehouse office?”
“Of course! I haven’t been furniture shopping in a while, so that will be fun. I should probably give you my phone number.”
With numbers exchanged and the kids having mostly emptied out your boxes, you started instructing them where everything needed to go. And finally after about an hour or so, most of your personal belongings were in their designated spots. Miko commented that her, Jack, and Rafael would probably be spending time in here because of the fridge and beanbag chair. “Hey, uh…” Jack walked up to you, “We all have specific Autobots that drive us around. I have Arcee, Raf has Bumblebee, Miko’s got Bulkhead, have you gotten to know any of them yet?” You shook your head no, “Okay, that’s alright. On the weekends we usually just hang out, so you’ll get to meet everyone.”
“That sounds like a plan… Uhhh, exactly how many Autobots are here?”
“You probably already met Optimus and Ratchet already, so there’s…” Jack started counting on his hands and mumbling to himself before Rafael spoke up quickly.
“There’s ten of them! I don’t think you’ve seen Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack yet.”
“You’ll like Wheeljack! He’s super chill and if you’re tough enough, he might make you an honorary wrecker!” Miko set her hands on her hips before brushing off the invisible swagger dust. “You have to be tougher than me, though, if you want to be a wrecker. I’m pretty sure you can be a wrecker, all those pictures of you skydiving is pretty metal, and if you don’t get scared at jumping out of airplanes, a stupid con will be nothing!” And before she could start asking another million question about the extreme sports you did as hobbies in the past, Rafael spoke up quietly.
“I think you’d like spending time with the Autobots, they really care about humans, though Ratchet can be a bit… tired sometimes.”
“Nuh uh, Ratchet’s a mean old fart who forgets to relax. He secretly cares but he won’t tell you. Oh!” And another wild idea floats through Miko’s head, “You should probably know! Some of the Autobots like each other~” You blinked and looked to June for help and context but she shook her head ‘no’ and walked to the couch. Seeing as this was probably going to be gossip hour to get you caught up on who’s who and what’s what, you plopped down on your beanbag bed and listened to each of the kids’ recounts of their previous adventures with June interjecting to add details as necessary.
It was pleasant, all in all.
A few days after June and the kids helped you unpack, June sent Jack with some food to stock your fridge and Rafael brought a couple rolls of toilet paper and soap for your bathroom. Miko also remembered to return your cd, but not before asking to borrow your Linkin Park cd.
It was finally time to meet the rest of the Autobots. The yellow camaro— Bumblebee — picked up the four of you and drove you to the main area where the large staircase was. After climbing up that, you were mostly eye level with the several towering Autobots. A white and grey transformer walked up and spoke with laidback but cocky drawl, “Bulkhead and Miko were telling me about you. Somehow you managed to piss off some ‘cons and got away and made it out alive. That takes bearings.” He chuckled. “What were you even doing messin’ with them?”
“I uh… Mm…” Now that you thought about it, what were you even doing before you broke your arm? It felt like you were just missing a portion of your memories. The only thing you could really recall was waking up in the hospital with Fowler after Optimus and Ratchet helped you. But from what, you had no idea. “I don’t really remember much, other than meeting Optimus Prime and Ratchet with a broken arm.” You looked to the medic who was busy typing away at a large futuristic console and ignoring your conversation. “Nobody’s really told me what happened.”
“Honestly, that’s we wanted to know.” A green transformer came up and slapped a large hand on the other one’s shoulder. “Bee and Smokescreen were out racing and heard the commotion, then they sent out Ratchet after you crashed your motocycle and broke your arm.” You looked back to Ratchet, back still turned to you.
“Mhm…” You tried one more time to try and recall anything, but still came up blank, so you shook your head to put the thought out of your mind. “Before we continue talking, I don’t know your names. As a matter of fact, I don’t know anyone’s names other than Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Bumblebee. So I don’t know if everyone wants to get in a circle like an AA meeting or…” You made a rolling gesture with your hand as you looked past the two in front of you to the other Autobots that were looking but hadn’t come up to you yet.
“‘Name’s Wheeljack, this is Bulkhead.” Your suggestion was met with being breezed past, so you would have to go around and get to know everyone individually. You shared your name with them and Miko helpfully reminded you that these two were some of the wreckers she was talking about earlier. “Miko was tellin’ us that you did a lot of jumping out of planes and stuff, got a story for that?”
“Just skydiving for fun. Nothing more than that.”
“For fun?” You nodded, “You ever been on a plane that’s been shot out of the sky?”
“For my safety I try to avoid being in planes that look like targets.”
“I told you! They should totally be a wrecker!”
“We’ll see. Once you’re out on the field with us, we’ll determine if you’ve got what it takes.” You nodded before another transformer ran up with Bumblebee.
“Woah! That’s what they look like without the helmet?” Wheeljack and Bulkhead stepped to the side so both Autobots could look at you. Bumblebee buzzed and beeped something back to the one you didn’t know and Rafael supposedly translated what Bumblebee said for you.
“He says that of course you look different, you’re arm was broken and you’ve been trying to recover.” Maybe one of your first purchases should be for a mirror, you probably looked like shit. “This is Smokescreen.”
“Yeah, we saw you getting shot at by Decepticons while we were out racing. Did you steal something from them? They don’t normally chase after regular humans unless you took something.” You scratched your head. Did you take something from them? There wasn’t any proof you had anything of theirs, and if you did, all your belongings in your motorcycle bag weren’t given back to you so there was really no way of knowing what the hell you had been doing to get caught up in all of this.
“Your guess is as good as mine, Smokescreen. I can’t remember anything from before I met you guys.”
“That sucks. Hey, do you want to come with us to go racing tonight?”
Bumblebee toned a response and Rafael translated for you. “He told Smokescreen that you’ll have to stay behind so your arm can keep healing. Don’t worry, we’ll have other races you can go to.” You nodded and watched as Miko chatted excitedly with Bulkhead and Wheeljack when Rafael got your attention again, “We really don’t know that much about you other than the extreme sports, what did you use to do before you joined the Autobots?” You hummed as you recalled.
“I did a lot of things. Did some boring stuff like working for a notary and being an editor, did some not so boring stuff like being a long haul driver and a pilot.” You watched as Miko tuned in to listen to a snippet of your life so far, Wheeljack and Bulkhead listened as well. “You could call me, ‘A Jack of All Trades’.”
“Master of none, right?” Jack and a blue Autobot, probably Arcee, also listened. Turning to look at him, he held his hands up in defense, “That’s just the rest of the phrase! I-I’m not trying to imply—”
“You’re good, Jack.” You laughed to ease some of the tension, Arcee stood with her arms crossed. “I wouldn’t say there are things I haven’t mastered, but I know some things I’m better at than others. I hate it but I’m pretty good at dealing with people, I can mostly talk my way out of a problem and sound like I know what I’m doing, I also like getting my hands dirty and fixing and building things. I prefer working with my hands when I’m able to, welder by trade. I’m not so good at fixing small things like computer problems or electrical issues, working with fire is fun, but electrical work scares me.”
“You like to get your hands dirty, huh?” You met Wheeljack’s gaze and nodded. “When you can use your other hand, let me know if you ever want to learn to fix a star ship.” He watched you nod before lightly bumping his fist against Bulkhead’s shoulder. “Gotta jet, but I’ll be back.” As he turned to leave, Miko stood with her mouth open watching Wheeljack walk away, he stopped to take one last look at you and smirk before transforming and driving off.
“No way…” She looked to Bulkhead.
“What?”
“You impressed Jackie. I know that look in his optic.”
“Wheeljack doesn’t usually trust new humans from what I’ve seen so far.” Arcee spoke up, and to your surprise, her voice was much more feminine than the others. Which made sense considering that she looked more femme presenting. Was she the only one? “Hope when you fully recover you can show us some of your skills.” A red transformer walked up and threw his arm around Arcee.
“This the new guy? Primus, you caused one pit of a commotion that I missed out on cause I was working another mission! I’ve heard nothing but praise about you.” The compliment stroked your ego and you wiped invisible dust off your shoulder. “‘Bee, Smokes, we still good to race tonight?” Bumblebee toned what sounded like a ‘yes’ if Smokescreen’s reaction was anything to go by, and the kids started moving out, Arcee joining them and walking side by side with the red one. Miko stopped and elbow jabbed your side, Bulkhead sticking around to wait for Miko.
“That’s Cliffjumper. Neither of them will say it, but it’s suuuuper obvious that they like each other. It is soooooo gross.” You hummed a laugh and watched as they all walked off, leaving you with Optimus and Ratchet.
Apparently, the only transformer you hadn’t seen or met yet was someone named Ultra Magnus, and after the kids had left, all you wanted to do was lay down in your studio, which meant that you needed to go back down the stairs and walk 15 minutes to get to bed. “Hey uh, Optimus?” He turned to look at you after a couple seconds, finishing typing something on that futuristic console, “Could I get a ride back to my room?”
“Of course.”