EmeraldMoonGreen, who owns Jay, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)
Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I own nothing.
A Father's Love For His Sparkling
Jay woke up that morning and sat up, sitting quietly for a bit as he reflected what the day was. Father's Day.
It had now been several months since Optimus had adopted him as a son and then he had gained a Cybertronian form, thanks to Primus. Many times, everyone would see the father and son messing around and Jay couldn't remember a time he had been happier before being adopted by the leader of the Autobots and gaining several other family members, including a human aunt who had helped him before and hadn't realized he was her nephew until around the time Optimus had officially adopted him.
And with today being Father's Day, it was Optimus' first Father's Day since adopting Jay. "I want to do something for him to say thanks for everything," he said to himself before he got scared. "But what if he doesn't like the gift I give him?"
While he inwardly knew that Optimus would never give him any reason to be afraid, his past experiences with Father's Day had never been good. He still remembered one Father's Day giving his birth father a gift he had made himself in hopes of him liking it and to perhaps put himself in his father's good graces. It hadn't gone well as his birth father had not only hit him, but told him the gift was worthless like him.
But Optimus had put a lot of those fears to rest by protecting Jay and showing him that he didn't have to be afraid of him. The Autobot never raised his hands to harm his son and he was careful about raising his voice. Once Jay had gotten used to being in a good home without having to worry about being abused or getting enough to eat, he transformed from a shy boy into an adventurous one, though he was still a bit shy around newcomers. Agent Fowler would now alert the base if other officials were coming and he checked their backgrounds himself to see if they were associated with Jay's former parents. Thankfully, there hadn't been a repeat of that one official harming Jay and they hoped to keep it that way.
Getting up, Jay took a look at some art supplies he had in his room and pulled them out, deciding to make a card for Optimus, but he would put it in his office and let the bot find it instead of handing it to him. He had a feeling his dad would like it, though he still wasn't too sure about how it would be received.
It didn't take him long, but he soon had made a large card, decorating the outside of it with blue and red colors just like his dad's armor coloring. He even put the Autobot insignia on it, drawing it carefully. Smiling at his handywork, he then began to think about what to write in the card and finally decided to express his gratitude by thanking Optimus for treating him like a son and caring about him. Carefully, he wrote a paragraph that expressed his gratitude and then signed the card before smiling in satisfaction. Transforming to his bot form, he picked up the finished card and moved carefully down the hallway, keeping his optics open for his father as he made his way to the leader of the Autobot's office. He passed by Ultra Magnus on the way and saluted politely. "Ultra Magnus, sir," he said respectfully.
The leader of the Wreckers chuckled, but nodded and saluted back. "How are you, youngling?" He asked.
"I'm good. Have you seen my dad around?"
"He's in the command center with Wheeljack and Smokescreen. They just got back from a successful mission," Ultra Magnus replied. "I'm heading there myself. Would you like me to tell your father you're looking for him?"
Jay shook his head. "No thank you, sir," he said respectfully. "But thank you anyway."
A gentle hand rubbed his helm in affection and made him smile before the larger bot headed out and the young mech continued on to his father's office, going in and placing the card on his desk. Smiling slightly, he took a deep breath and his worries came back a bit, to which he decided to go hide at the top of the butte.
Slipping out quietly, he waited patiently until seeing everyone leave the command center to go do their various activities. Seeing it was all clear, Jay quickly moved towards the door of the base and snuck out silently, climbing to the top of the butte and gazing out at the land stretched below the butte. He then saw Cliffjumper's grave and bowed his head in respect. He hadn't know the bot, but from what Arcee had told him, Cliffjumper would have no doubt loved Jay as the red mech had had a soft spot for sparklings and younglings.
He sat down, keeping his ears open for anything as he bit his lip, worried about Optimus' reaction to the card.
Meanwhile...
Optimus had been pleased to hear that Wheeljack and Smokescreen had had a good mission and had found another Energon mine that apparently was quite full of Energon. In Smokescreen's words, they had hit the mother lode.
He was planning a team to go retrieve it and was about to comm Megatron and see if he wanted to join in the retrieval when he saw something on his desk. A quick analysis told him it was a card and on the front of it was the Autobot insignia against a background of blue and red. Curious, he opened the card, his optics taking in what he saw.
A hand-drawn picture of himself and Jay watching the sunset greeted him and it was extremely well done. He could now guess who had left the card on his desk and what he read inside further proved his guess right.
Dad,
Thank you for treating me like a son,
And caring about me as a father should,
Through the months that I've been here,
You've helped me with my worries and fears.
I think of you as my real father,
And I'm proud to be your son,
You've been the absolute greatest to me,
From beyond the horizon and space,
I love you, Dad.
Love,
Jay
Optimus smiled as he not only loved the card, but the message in it too. Ever since he had adopted Jay, he had experienced the joy of being a father and loved the boy as if he was his own, which in a way, he was. And the leader of the Bots wouldn't have it any other way.
He left his office to go find Jay and thank him, but to his surprise, the boy wasn't in his room, nor was he in the base. Curious, he was about to comm him when he saw Predaking come in from his daily flight and with him was Starscream. "Starscream. Predaking, have you two seen Jay by chance?" He asked.
"He's on the top of the butte," Predaking said. "We happened to notice him when we were returning."
"Is everything alright?" Starscream asked. "Jay looked...unsure about something."
Optimus was surprised, but he had a feeling he knew why Jay was out there. "Did he seem scared?" He asked them.
"Not scared, persae, but...like he had done something and didn't want to stick around in case someone found out," Predaking said.
"But Jay's done nothing wrong," Starscream said. "Why would it seem like he's hiding out there?"
The blue-and-red Autobot looked a bit grim. "Today is Father's Day," he said to the other two. "From what we know of Jay's former parents, I think we can safely guess that Jay doesn't have any good memories of Father's Day before coming to live here," he said.
"Which means today is your first Father's Day with him as your son," Predaking said in realization before seeing something in the leader's hand. "Is that your Father's Day gift?" He asked curiously.
Nodding, Optimus showed them both the card and they were amazed. "He is a good artist," Starscream said in admiration. "We may have, as the humans say, a little Picasso among us."
Predaking chuckled. "I agree," he said before looking thoughtful. "Perhaps Jay was worried about your reaction to his gift and...fell back upon his instincts from before."
Optimus nodded, agreeing with the softly-spoken statement. "I believe you may be right, Predaking," he said.
Starscream checked the computers and found Jay was still up on top of the butte. "He's still there," he said before turning to Optimus and smiling. "I think your son needs to be shown that any holiday with you will be filled with love and he doesn't have to be worried anymore."
"I agree," the Predacon said with a nod. "His past keeps rearing its ugly head. Hopefully with a little more time, it won't do that."
"Let's hope," Optimus said, nodding. "Please excuse me, gentleman. I'm going to go up to see my son."
Both nodded, smiling as the leader headed out of the base and up to the top of the butte where his son was.
Jay was sitting down in his bot form and hugging his knees, a bit scared still as he had a feeling his father would be looking for him. While he knew he didn't have anything to fear, old habits weren't easy to get rid of.
"Hello, son," came a familiar voice behind him.
The poor mech jumped a mile with a yelp, struggling a little when two large arms wrapped around him. "Shh, it's just me, Jay," he heard.
Turning his head, he saw his father was behind him and he sighed. "Sorry, Dad," he said softly.
Optimus gently chuckled. "I didn't mean to startle you, Jay," he said. "But I'm glad I found you."
Noting that his father did sound genuinely glad, he looked up at him and saw his father had the card in his hand, which the larger mech noticed his son had seen. "A certain youngling who is very dear to me gave this to me," he said with a smile. "A youngling that I'm proud to call my son."
Jay smiled as he heard that and hugged Optimus, who held him in a warm hug. "Son, I want you to remember this, any gift you give me will be received with love. Can you promise me you'll always remember that?"
The mech nodded. "I promise, Dad," he said with a smile. "Happy Father's Day."
"Thank you, son."
As the sun set, the two stood on the butte, watching the sky change colors while Jay stood beside his dad, happy and at peace to have a loving father who continuously proved every day that he loved the boy unconditionally and was proud to be his father.
And Jay was proud to be his father's son.
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there! :)
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GoldGuardian2418