Getting to Know You 2 part 2
Back to Part 1
oOo
“How did you meet Sam?” the car asked Miles suddenly, making him jump as the silence broke. “How long have you known him?”
“Oh! Uh, Kindergarten, I guess-it’s been a long time. We’ve been in the same class every year since-up until junior high and high school, we haven’t had all our classes together for the past while-except for fifth grade, when my parents tried to send me to private school. That didn’t work.”
Silence fell again.
“…I have no idea what to say,” said Miles finally.
“Yeah. Neither do I,” confessed Bumblebee. Miles laughed a little, nervously. There was another silent pause, but it was slightly more comfortable.
“I’m sorry you ended up involved in this mess,” said Bee.
Miles shook his head. “No, I’m glad. I mean, it’s Sam’s life, and I’m his best friend-I should know about what’s happening to him. And nothing really bad’s happened to me yet, other than being stuck rooming with Trent for a while, I mean, and being forced to treat him like a real human being, so there’s nothing to worry about there.” He paused, briefly. “…And you guys are really damn cool.”
oOo
“If you turn right at the next intersection you can avoid the worst of the traffic,” said Trent, looking sideways at Sam. They were just leaving his house-they’d stopped to let him pick up some clothes and whatever else he wanted from his house.
“Don’t tell me,” shrugged Sam. “Jazz’s driving.” He was, too, even though Sam was sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Right,” said Trent, swallowing nervously. Sam sighed. This was just bunches of fun, wasn’t it?
“How’ve things been going with you, Sam?” asked Jazz.
“Good. My life is three hundred times more interesting with you guys in it-even when there’s not huge life-saving battles going on, like Mission City. But you know that it’s been quiet-I’m sure somebody gave you a rundown of what’s happened. And there’s Mikaela.” Sam jumped slightly, remembering Trent, and quickly switched to a different subject. “And Bee, of course. My life’s pretty much perfect right now. …Or it was.”
Because now he had his other best friend and Trent, decidedly not any sort of friend of his at all, staying out his house because they were worried that bloodthirsty Decepticons, Barricade in particular, would come barreling down on them at any time. They weren’t the only ones, either-Mikaela, Glen, Maggie, Will, Sarah and Annabelle, Epps, the rest of Will’s team: they were all possibly in trouble, too. And they didn’t know. That was somehow worst of all. He’d known the situation, more or less, during Mission City, once it had been explained to him. Now, they were taking shots in the dark when it came to the motives and the reality of the situation.
When he looked over again, Trent seemed down-right scared.
Sam sighed. “So what’s up with you?” he asked Jazz, just for something to keep the conversation rolling.
“Nothing much-same old same old, y’know? Last thing I remember before I was reactivated was getting torn apart.” Sam winced, and Trent’s expression of fear took on a distinct hint of nausea. “It didn’t hurt,” added the car. “Which surprised the hell out of me, too.”
“It’s good to have you back,” said Sam. “I mean, I never really got the chance to actually get to know you, but…”
“Yeah,” said Jazz, sounding slightly amused at Sam’s floundering. (Actually, he sounded like he was highly amused but mostly hiding it, which was more or less correct.)
“So, how’d you get dragged into all this, Trent?” Jazz said. Trent jumped and yelped, then blushed, briefly, bright red, before he spoke.
“Um… I was there when Sam’s car was attacked,” he muttered.
“He’s not my anything,” said Sam immediately. “And you were there because you were vandalizing Miles’ mailbox! It wasn’t like you just happened to be in the area!”
Jazz snickered. “Vandalizing? How?”
Trent flushed again, and it didn’t fade, this time. He didn’t answer.
“Miles’ last name is Gillon-he was changing it to ‘Gibbon,’” Sam said for him, glaring at him moodily.
“Look, I know it’s stupid, and kinda immature,” Trent said, sounding mortified. “It-I don’t know why I was, it was just-You know, with the guys and everything…”
“No, I don’t know!” snapped Sam. “I’ve never picked out a few kids to bully mercilessly and, now that I think about it, all the time I’ve spent with ‘the guys’ has involved you humiliating me, physically hurting me or both simultaneously, starting with second period PE in the seventh grade and continuing right up until two days ago when I saved you from death by giant evil robot.”
“Sorry,” cringed Trent.
“-and now I’m keeping you in my house, again so giant evil robots don’t kill you! You’re sleeping in my room! My mother’s cooking for you, and doing your laundry! You were using my shower!”
“Oookay,” said Jazz, sounding incredibly amused. Even Trent gave him a slightly odd look for that last comment.
“At least with Miles we’ve been friends since the second week of Kindergarten! The last time he actually tried to embarrass me was the first week of kindergarten, nearly twelve years ago, now. You? It was the last time I saw you, previous to this. And when I did find you, you were giving Miles an extra hour of work each day trying to scrub the paint off of his mailbox! And you’re not even sure why! And Mikaela. Let’s talk about Mikaela.”
Trent was as close to cowering as Sam had ever seen him-well, as close to cowering as Sam had ever seen him when it wasn’t Barricade who was doing the cowing.
“Wait, this guy’s Mikaela’s ex-boyfriend?” asked Jazz, sounding surprised. “I’ve heard about you, then. Funny, Judy never mentioned that…”
“And why does everybody end up talking to my mom?” Sam almost wailed, head in his hands.
“I’m… I don’t know,” Trent said, face a confusing mix of emotions and expressions. “I…” He didn’t finish the sentence he’d started.
“You’re young and stupid?” suggested Sam.
“He’s in high school,” cut in Bee, his voice passed through Jazz’s speakers for the benefit of the humans. “Everyone is young and stupid in high school.”
“Hey!” said Sam and Miles, affronted, at more or less the same time. Sam continued. “…wait, how long have you two been listening in?”
“From the start,” said Bumblebee cheerily. “Jazz suggested it.”
“I told you not to tell them that!” Jazz said. “Now they know it was me…”
“Anyways,” the Camaro continued, ignoring Jazz, “When you started ranting I switched it to my speakers so it was out loud, for Miles’ sake.”
There was the sound of Miles’ half-muffled laughter in the background. Sam sighed. “But what makes me young and stupid?”
“Well, you’re all young,” said Jazz immediately, “And I think that sticking the Allspark in Megatron’s chest definitely accounts for the ‘stupid’ part.”
“Admittedly,” added Bee, “That’s a different sort of stupid than most high school students have-Trent, for example!”
Trent didn’t blush, this time: he blanched instead, going pale.
“I know I was stupid!” he said. “I’ve said I was sorry!”
“Again,” said Miles, sounding incredulous. “He just apologized-possibly even to me-again. Oh my God.”
“Do you have to rub it in?” Trent muttered.
“Hmmm. Years and years of sheer hell to the point where you are the reason I failed health freshman year, one car ride… I wonder how that balances out? Yep, I think I do have to,” Sam said.
“I’m trying,” Trent said, looking desperate enough that Sam finally relented.
“Fine, then,” he said. “But you owe Mikaela one hell of an apology. And I don’t know how forgiving she’s going to be.”
“And you’re in luck!” said Bumblebee, who apparently wasn’t done holding his grudge. “Mikaela’s going to show up later this afternoon, along with Ratchet and Maggie and Glen. And then possibly the rest of the Autobots! Even Ironhide, who’ll have Will and his family and his military unit with him. And then maybe the Secretary of Defense, because everybody will already be gathered together, making things easier.”
“…I don’t think your mom packed a big enough picnic,” said Miles, voice weak.
“The Secretary of Defense?” said Trent, eyes wide.
“Please don’t tell my mom he’s going to be there,” said Sam, going white.
“Whoops,” said Jazz, sounding about as unapologetic as it was possible to sound.
“Oh, noooo… She’s going to show up to yell at him or something, I don’t know what…” Sam said, looking horrified.
“Yeah, I can see Judy doing that,” said Miles reflectively. “Have I told you recently that your mom is incredibly cool? In a way that makes me glad she’s not my mother.”
“She might as well be,” said Sam, somewhat vindictively. “You’re living with us, she’s known you forever, and she certainly acts like it…”
“She kind of does, doesn’t she?”
“Why don’t you two get out of us now we’ve arrived so that we can have our com systems back?” said Jazz, sounding amused.
“Wait, we’re here?” said Sam. They were-or almost. The two Autobots hadn’t actually pulled to a full stop yet, but they were at the lookout. “Huh. We are.”
Once they actually had stopped the humans all emerged into the sunlight-it was a gorgeous day. There was a light breeze to keep the heat from getting to oppressive, and a few soft white clouds dotted the sky-it was the sort of scenery shot you find in cheap catalogues, except for the two Autobots who were now standing there, enjoying the scenery-if not the weather; it didn’t make much of a difference, to them-with the three teenage boys.
oOo
Sunstreaker bit back a curse as Bed emerged back out of the woods she’d wandered into two hours earlier, seeing him in his full, fully untransformed, glory.
“Make any noise and I’ll make sure you regret it,” he said, voice flat, staring the girl down. Fortunately, it looked like he was going to be lucky-she wasn’t a screamer when she was frightened. Or frightened by the sudden appearance of a giant robot, at least. He didn’t know how she’d react to finding out that he was ‘her’ car.
If he’d had contact with anyone useful-that is, if he’d had contact with Autobots-he could have had himself outfitted with something harmless to knock the organics out, for situations like these. But no, he’d gotten her. And if she was too loud, the Decepticons currently investigating the parking lot he’d been left in were going to find the human, and him along with her. It wouldn’t be a good experience for either of them.
“Oh… Oh, God. Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” the girl whispered. And then she slumped over in a dead faint.
Sunstreaker controlled the urge to throw her to the ’Cons, if only because it would give him-and, through that, Sideswipe-away. An unconcious human was not something he needed, even if it would keep the organic quiet for a while.
(1) Sawdust makes a poor mulch for gardens, because it leaches nitrogen out of the soil while it breaks down, which it does slowly. However, both of these problems are easily solved by dumping lawn trimmings on the sawdust whenever you mow-fresh grass has a high nitrogen content so the nutrients required for the decomposition don’t end up being taken out of the soil, and there’s a faster break-down time. In this particular case, Bec has also stuck a layer of newspaper on the very bottom, to smother the weeds and grass underneath the other mulches, but that’s really only because she’s putting in a new garden bed. Sunstreaker doesn’t care about the newspaper because it didn’t end up all over him.
--End Chapter 2--
oOo
“How did you meet Sam?” the car asked Miles suddenly, making him jump as the silence broke. “How long have you known him?”
“Oh! Uh, Kindergarten, I guess-it’s been a long time. We’ve been in the same class every year since-up until junior high and high school, we haven’t had all our classes together for the past while-except for fifth grade, when my parents tried to send me to private school. That didn’t work.”
Silence fell again.
“…I have no idea what to say,” said Miles finally.
“Yeah. Neither do I,” confessed Bumblebee. Miles laughed a little, nervously. There was another silent pause, but it was slightly more comfortable.
“I’m sorry you ended up involved in this mess,” said Bee.
Miles shook his head. “No, I’m glad. I mean, it’s Sam’s life, and I’m his best friend-I should know about what’s happening to him. And nothing really bad’s happened to me yet, other than being stuck rooming with Trent for a while, I mean, and being forced to treat him like a real human being, so there’s nothing to worry about there.” He paused, briefly. “…And you guys are really damn cool.”
oOo
“If you turn right at the next intersection you can avoid the worst of the traffic,” said Trent, looking sideways at Sam. They were just leaving his house-they’d stopped to let him pick up some clothes and whatever else he wanted from his house.
“Don’t tell me,” shrugged Sam. “Jazz’s driving.” He was, too, even though Sam was sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Right,” said Trent, swallowing nervously. Sam sighed. This was just bunches of fun, wasn’t it?
“How’ve things been going with you, Sam?” asked Jazz.
“Good. My life is three hundred times more interesting with you guys in it-even when there’s not huge life-saving battles going on, like Mission City. But you know that it’s been quiet-I’m sure somebody gave you a rundown of what’s happened. And there’s Mikaela.” Sam jumped slightly, remembering Trent, and quickly switched to a different subject. “And Bee, of course. My life’s pretty much perfect right now. …Or it was.”
Because now he had his other best friend and Trent, decidedly not any sort of friend of his at all, staying out his house because they were worried that bloodthirsty Decepticons, Barricade in particular, would come barreling down on them at any time. They weren’t the only ones, either-Mikaela, Glen, Maggie, Will, Sarah and Annabelle, Epps, the rest of Will’s team: they were all possibly in trouble, too. And they didn’t know. That was somehow worst of all. He’d known the situation, more or less, during Mission City, once it had been explained to him. Now, they were taking shots in the dark when it came to the motives and the reality of the situation.
When he looked over again, Trent seemed down-right scared.
Sam sighed. “So what’s up with you?” he asked Jazz, just for something to keep the conversation rolling.
“Nothing much-same old same old, y’know? Last thing I remember before I was reactivated was getting torn apart.” Sam winced, and Trent’s expression of fear took on a distinct hint of nausea. “It didn’t hurt,” added the car. “Which surprised the hell out of me, too.”
“It’s good to have you back,” said Sam. “I mean, I never really got the chance to actually get to know you, but…”
“Yeah,” said Jazz, sounding slightly amused at Sam’s floundering. (Actually, he sounded like he was highly amused but mostly hiding it, which was more or less correct.)
“So, how’d you get dragged into all this, Trent?” Jazz said. Trent jumped and yelped, then blushed, briefly, bright red, before he spoke.
“Um… I was there when Sam’s car was attacked,” he muttered.
“He’s not my anything,” said Sam immediately. “And you were there because you were vandalizing Miles’ mailbox! It wasn’t like you just happened to be in the area!”
Jazz snickered. “Vandalizing? How?”
Trent flushed again, and it didn’t fade, this time. He didn’t answer.
“Miles’ last name is Gillon-he was changing it to ‘Gibbon,’” Sam said for him, glaring at him moodily.
“Look, I know it’s stupid, and kinda immature,” Trent said, sounding mortified. “It-I don’t know why I was, it was just-You know, with the guys and everything…”
“No, I don’t know!” snapped Sam. “I’ve never picked out a few kids to bully mercilessly and, now that I think about it, all the time I’ve spent with ‘the guys’ has involved you humiliating me, physically hurting me or both simultaneously, starting with second period PE in the seventh grade and continuing right up until two days ago when I saved you from death by giant evil robot.”
“Sorry,” cringed Trent.
“-and now I’m keeping you in my house, again so giant evil robots don’t kill you! You’re sleeping in my room! My mother’s cooking for you, and doing your laundry! You were using my shower!”
“Oookay,” said Jazz, sounding incredibly amused. Even Trent gave him a slightly odd look for that last comment.
“At least with Miles we’ve been friends since the second week of Kindergarten! The last time he actually tried to embarrass me was the first week of kindergarten, nearly twelve years ago, now. You? It was the last time I saw you, previous to this. And when I did find you, you were giving Miles an extra hour of work each day trying to scrub the paint off of his mailbox! And you’re not even sure why! And Mikaela. Let’s talk about Mikaela.”
Trent was as close to cowering as Sam had ever seen him-well, as close to cowering as Sam had ever seen him when it wasn’t Barricade who was doing the cowing.
“Wait, this guy’s Mikaela’s ex-boyfriend?” asked Jazz, sounding surprised. “I’ve heard about you, then. Funny, Judy never mentioned that…”
“And why does everybody end up talking to my mom?” Sam almost wailed, head in his hands.
“I’m… I don’t know,” Trent said, face a confusing mix of emotions and expressions. “I…” He didn’t finish the sentence he’d started.
“You’re young and stupid?” suggested Sam.
“He’s in high school,” cut in Bee, his voice passed through Jazz’s speakers for the benefit of the humans. “Everyone is young and stupid in high school.”
“Hey!” said Sam and Miles, affronted, at more or less the same time. Sam continued. “…wait, how long have you two been listening in?”
“From the start,” said Bumblebee cheerily. “Jazz suggested it.”
“I told you not to tell them that!” Jazz said. “Now they know it was me…”
“Anyways,” the Camaro continued, ignoring Jazz, “When you started ranting I switched it to my speakers so it was out loud, for Miles’ sake.”
There was the sound of Miles’ half-muffled laughter in the background. Sam sighed. “But what makes me young and stupid?”
“Well, you’re all young,” said Jazz immediately, “And I think that sticking the Allspark in Megatron’s chest definitely accounts for the ‘stupid’ part.”
“Admittedly,” added Bee, “That’s a different sort of stupid than most high school students have-Trent, for example!”
Trent didn’t blush, this time: he blanched instead, going pale.
“I know I was stupid!” he said. “I’ve said I was sorry!”
“Again,” said Miles, sounding incredulous. “He just apologized-possibly even to me-again. Oh my God.”
“Do you have to rub it in?” Trent muttered.
“Hmmm. Years and years of sheer hell to the point where you are the reason I failed health freshman year, one car ride… I wonder how that balances out? Yep, I think I do have to,” Sam said.
“I’m trying,” Trent said, looking desperate enough that Sam finally relented.
“Fine, then,” he said. “But you owe Mikaela one hell of an apology. And I don’t know how forgiving she’s going to be.”
“And you’re in luck!” said Bumblebee, who apparently wasn’t done holding his grudge. “Mikaela’s going to show up later this afternoon, along with Ratchet and Maggie and Glen. And then possibly the rest of the Autobots! Even Ironhide, who’ll have Will and his family and his military unit with him. And then maybe the Secretary of Defense, because everybody will already be gathered together, making things easier.”
“…I don’t think your mom packed a big enough picnic,” said Miles, voice weak.
“The Secretary of Defense?” said Trent, eyes wide.
“Please don’t tell my mom he’s going to be there,” said Sam, going white.
“Whoops,” said Jazz, sounding about as unapologetic as it was possible to sound.
“Oh, noooo… She’s going to show up to yell at him or something, I don’t know what…” Sam said, looking horrified.
“Yeah, I can see Judy doing that,” said Miles reflectively. “Have I told you recently that your mom is incredibly cool? In a way that makes me glad she’s not my mother.”
“She might as well be,” said Sam, somewhat vindictively. “You’re living with us, she’s known you forever, and she certainly acts like it…”
“She kind of does, doesn’t she?”
“Why don’t you two get out of us now we’ve arrived so that we can have our com systems back?” said Jazz, sounding amused.
“Wait, we’re here?” said Sam. They were-or almost. The two Autobots hadn’t actually pulled to a full stop yet, but they were at the lookout. “Huh. We are.”
Once they actually had stopped the humans all emerged into the sunlight-it was a gorgeous day. There was a light breeze to keep the heat from getting to oppressive, and a few soft white clouds dotted the sky-it was the sort of scenery shot you find in cheap catalogues, except for the two Autobots who were now standing there, enjoying the scenery-if not the weather; it didn’t make much of a difference, to them-with the three teenage boys.
oOo
Sunstreaker bit back a curse as Bed emerged back out of the woods she’d wandered into two hours earlier, seeing him in his full, fully untransformed, glory.
“Make any noise and I’ll make sure you regret it,” he said, voice flat, staring the girl down. Fortunately, it looked like he was going to be lucky-she wasn’t a screamer when she was frightened. Or frightened by the sudden appearance of a giant robot, at least. He didn’t know how she’d react to finding out that he was ‘her’ car.
If he’d had contact with anyone useful-that is, if he’d had contact with Autobots-he could have had himself outfitted with something harmless to knock the organics out, for situations like these. But no, he’d gotten her. And if she was too loud, the Decepticons currently investigating the parking lot he’d been left in were going to find the human, and him along with her. It wouldn’t be a good experience for either of them.
“Oh… Oh, God. Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” the girl whispered. And then she slumped over in a dead faint.
Sunstreaker controlled the urge to throw her to the ’Cons, if only because it would give him-and, through that, Sideswipe-away. An unconcious human was not something he needed, even if it would keep the organic quiet for a while.
(1) Sawdust makes a poor mulch for gardens, because it leaches nitrogen out of the soil while it breaks down, which it does slowly. However, both of these problems are easily solved by dumping lawn trimmings on the sawdust whenever you mow-fresh grass has a high nitrogen content so the nutrients required for the decomposition don’t end up being taken out of the soil, and there’s a faster break-down time. In this particular case, Bec has also stuck a layer of newspaper on the very bottom, to smother the weeds and grass underneath the other mulches, but that’s really only because she’s putting in a new garden bed. Sunstreaker doesn’t care about the newspaper because it didn’t end up all over him.
--End Chapter 2--