This is just a cute little fic I wrote last summer instead of writing my English 102 final. Enjoy and please review!
Essays and AC's
[G1] Carly desperately needed to write her paper, but instead was made an offer she just couldn't resist. Oneshot.
The Autobot base was stifling hot in the unrelenting heat of the blistering Oregon summer. The obscenely orange plating the Ark was constructed out of had a horrible habit of reflecting the sun into the base and heating it to nearly intolerable levels.
It was hot enough that even the Autobots themselves had succumbed to the heat, only ever going outside for routine patrols. Evidently even the Decepticons were content to stay hidden in the cool depths of their underwater base seeing as there had been no notable activity for nearly a week. The heat spell went on without them.
Most sane people would be locked in their houses with their air conditioning systems at full blast, others might be enjoying the cool salty breeze at the beach, others still might be saving the cold sugary sweetness of a frozen treat while in town with friends or family.
Carly, however, was doing none of these things. Instead, she was sitting by herself on a counter attempting to do her English homework, all the while sweating profusely. Spike had planned a fishing trip with his father and had quite forgotten about Carly for the moment.
She was determined not to mind too much, he was sure to make it up to her whenever they got back from their weekend outing.
Spike often had a habit of going off without her and then returning with some cheesy romantic apology or other. She would be annoyed with him for a short while, but Carly always forgave him. Besides, with all the daily ruckus caused by hanging out with the Autobots, it was rare for the two to get any father/son bonding time and Carly couldn't begrudge them for that. Especially with how fast Sparkplug seemed to be aging as of late. Sure, he still had another good decade or so on him, but one had to take the chances given to them.
And so she had come to spend the weekend studying at the Ark. A few of her friends had invited her to a girls' picnic at the beach but Carly had declined saying that she had to study for her finals. Truthfully, she just didn't fancy getting toasted. Last time she had turned up at the base sunburned the Autobots had given her pit over looking like a lobster and was forcibly cross-examined by both Ratchet and Perceptor.
By this point though, boredom was causing her to seriously doubt her refusal of the invitation.
Carly had been telling the truth when she said she had study to do. The only problem was that it was English. Now normally Carly was an extremely diligent student, her top mark grades were proof enough of that, it was just that she couldn't wrap her head around all the rules.
Give her something to take apart and she'd be happy for the next two hours. Better yet, tell her to put it back together and give her free reign on any improvements she could think of. But tell her to write a paper? Nope, not going to happen.
The thing was, she really needed this English grade to graduate top of her class.
Oh, how she loathed the currently blank piece of paper sitting oh-so-innocently on the table in front of her. It seemed to taunt her endlessly with its beguiling white crispness...
'Great!' Carly thought exasperatedly, now she was hallucinating. This heat must be getting to her more than she had realized.
Too bad none of the bots were around.
They had an uncanny ability to cheer a person up with their peculiar questions or alien mannerisms. Then again, there were times when they just seemed so... so human. It got a little disconcerting if you thought on it too much.
It was actually quite strange how quiet the base was. It was almost too quiet. Carly supposed that it made sense, Bumblebee and several of the more exuberant mechs had decided to tag along with Spike and Sparkplug. Namely Seaspray, Hound, Powerglide and a few others.
So that left most of the main crew to do some much needed maintenance around the Ark and the rest out on patrol. And that left Carly was alone in the human partition of the rec room, trying to think of something to start off her graduating-grade five-page-essay of doom.
Okay, so maybe she needed a break. A break from what, she didn't know. It wasn't as if she was actually accomplishing anything by staring at blank pieces of paper.
Carly groaned in frustration and, after unsticking a piece of paper from her arm for the umpteenth time, jumped down from her stool to get a glass of cold water.
The Autobots had been very accommodating in redesigning the rec room for ease of human access. Up against one wall was a large metal couch made of some strange pliable material that Carly couldn't even begin to guess how it was made. Behind the couch was a platform type area about ten feet wide that followed the length of the sofa with a handy staircase running up the side of it. On the platform there were tables and chairs, a human sized couch, and a small kitchenette that carried all the basic necessities.
Opposite the transformer-sized sofa was a large flat screen TV, the very best available in human standards, as well as several modified gaming systems courtesy of Wheeljack and Chip. Carly had helped some, but she was better with the mechanics side of things than the fiddly stuff.
On the other side of the couch and TV half of the room was the Autobots' energon dispenser and their own tables and seating arrangements. And of course all the walls were the typical burnished orange color that composed most all of the Ark.
Over all it was a cozy little set up that served its inhabitants well.
Grabbing her glass of water, which had inadvertently turned into a cup of ice-cold lemonade on a whim, Carly proceeded to sit back down at her table and take a long sip.
Her mind was just as blank as the paper before her.
Letting out another low frustrated groan, Carly slumped down in her chair, hunching over to rest her head on the table. So much for being one of the most diligent students in her class, she thought miserably. If only her Professors could see her now.
"Uh, Carly? Are you alright?" A tentative voice called out, before launching into a bombardment of words. "Because if you're not then I should probably go get Ratchet, except for when I passed the med bay he was recharging and I really don't want to wake him up because then he would be mad and might throw something at me. He doesn't get enough recharge anyways and..."
Carly bolted upright, her heart pounding faster than normal. A piece of paper was comically stuck to the side of her face where she had been resting her head. "Bluestreak!" She ripped away the paper irritably and wiped off her moist forehead. "What are you doing here? You startled me!"
The young sniper had the sense to look at least a little bit sheepish and brought a servo to the back of his helm nervously. "Oh, sorry about that. I just got back from patrolling the desert and thought I would stop and get some energon before heading to the wash racks."
He really did need to get cleaned up, Carly noted as she took in his dirty appearance. His entire frame was coated in a thick layer of dust, sand and no doubt had grit inside all of his joints. She winced slightly, knowing just how irritating the bots found the sand under their armor.
"Carly, are you okay? Because when I came in here you were slumped over and I thought something might be wrong with you and then you got startled and never answered my question..."
Carly smiled and interrupted the younger mech before he could go on. "It's okay Blue, I'm fine, honest."
He looked like he wanted to say something more, but Carly continued. She was used to how much the friendly mech tended to talk and had since figured out how to keep a conversation going without him being the only person speaking.
"It's just this heat." She explained, or rather complained, "It's just really been getting to me lately, that's all." Well, that and the essay that simply refused to write itself, but she wasn't even going to go there.
"Oh, I see. I guess you guys aren't like us that way. Some of the other bots would agree with you though, but that's just because they aren't Praxian like me."
Carly was going to interrupt again in order to ask what the difference was, but then decided against it as Bluestreak continued, answering her question as he went. She listened intently, genuinely interested in what he was saying now. All she really knew about Praxians was that they had door wings and that was about it.
"You see, Praxians love the sunlight because it gives us energy. Our door wings absorb the sunlight to give our systems a boost. Kind of like you humans' solar panels, only much more efficient. It just feels too wonderfully warm and ticklish, like butterfly kisses and it just makes me feel so happy to sit outside on days like this..."
The young mech began to drift off topic and Carly decided it was time to make a comment. "Wow, I never knew that." The engineer inside her was ticking over with different ways this information could be used. "So, how does that work exactly? Can you get sunstroke or something similar? And wouldn't that make your wings really fragile?"
She was bursting full of questions now and wanted nothing more than to just sit there and learn more about her Autobot counterpart. Bluestreak was happy enough to oblige and answer her questions, pleased to be able to talk about his kind. It wasn't often that someone, Autobot or human, would just talk to him and he began to exuberantly dive into her questions.
"We don't get sunstroke or anything like that really. Sometimes though, if we sit outside too long it makes us woozy and tired and then it's almost like overcharging only... different. It makes us really hyper and we do silly things without thinking."
"So, it's like a sugar rush?"
Bluestreak paused as he thought about this before he grinned widely. "Yeah! It's just exactly like that!"
Carly couldn't help but beam back with a grin of her own at the mech's enthusiasm. If she had thought about it then she might have realized that the Praxian sniper was already on a little bit of a 'sugar high' from being out on patrol so long in the desert.
"OH! And door wings are really sensitive and can hurt a lot if they get bumped or bent up. Especially when they get bent." Bluestreak flicked his wings, as if remembering some past injury, but his explanation never faltered. "It's not because of the solar panels though; those aren't fragile like the human ones. It only hurts a lot more than anywhere else because of all the sensors we have there."
Carly leaned back and took a sip of her lemonade, swirling a finger around in the condensate on the glass as she thought. Would it even be possible to adapt a door winger's solar panels to improve human solar systems? It might be something she could ask Ratchet about at some point in time. For the moment though it was nice to just sit and talk to Bluestreak.
He was so very different from the other bots she'd met. He seemed so carefree and young. Blue seemed positively immature in comparison to the other mechs. Even Bumblebee, who was about the same age she had been told, could be found brooding on the war when Spike wasn't around.
But Bluestreak just keep talking.
"Hey, Carly? Carly! Hellooo..." Bluestreak waved a large servo in front of her face in an attempt to get her attention.
It took a moment for Carly to collect her thoughts enough to respond. The air currents from his hand were so refreshing it wasn't even funny. Why did the Ark have to be so stuffy!?
"Sorry Blue, I guess I spaced out on you." Carly sighed.
"It's okay Carly. Are you sure you're all right, because you look a little odd. I know you said it's because it's so hot today but I think you should go see Ratchet or something. I don't want there to be something wrong with you and then be blamed because you were too stubborn to say something..."
Carly started laughing and Bluestreak broke off on his tirade of concerns to watch her cautiously. She just couldn't help it; he was so adorable when he was confused! It only took a few seconds though before she had calmed down enough to respond.
"I'm fine." She insisted once again, "Don't worry about me, Blue."
Bluestreak looked skeptical. He wouldn't push her though, as long as she wasn't dying or something that was good enough for him. He really did care for the little human's well-being.
"Are you sure?" He asked simply.
Carly didn't respond immediately, slightly shocked that that was all he had asked. "Yes, I'm sure."
"Okay, if you're sure."
For a long moment there was just silence and neither of them said anything. It was a little awkward to Carly. Normally Bluestreak would be the one keeping up a steady stream of chatter while everyone just kinda tried to keep up with him. She did need to get back to work on her essay though.
"Why don't you go get cleaned up? I don't want you to be uncomfortable with all that grit on you. Besides, I have work to do." Carly suggested after a while. Bluestreak had just been leaning up against the wall for the entire duration of their conversation and she hadn't missed that he was very careful in how he shifted. He hadn't even gotten his energon for goodness sake! Now she was going to feel bad until he took care of himself.
"Yeah, I guess." He did not sound all that enthusiastic. "What about you?"
Bluestreak suddenly noticed just how empty the rec room was. Carly was just in here all by herself and hat just didn't sit right with him. Where was Bumblebee and Spike? They were always hanging around together with Carly.
"Spike is out on a fishing trip with Sparkplug if that's what you're wondering." Carly shrugged indifferently, "Bee and a couple other bots went with them."
Bluestreak's mouth formed a silent 'o' when she answered his unasked question. "I didn't want to leave you alone." He said quietly. If he knew anything it was that being alone was never a good thing.
Carly nearly melted on the spot when she saw his pleading optics. He could do the saddest puppy face without even realizing it! "Fine, fine! How about a compromise? You go take a quick shower and then you can come back and stay with me."
The Praxian didn't even blink before responding with an instant acknowledgment and practically running down the hallway towards the wash racks.
Carly had barely plopped herself back down and gotten herself situated over her assignment before Bluestreak came back. She could barely restrain her smile when she heard his rapid pede-falls coming from down the hall, especially when they noticeably slowed down as he came to the door, as if to pretend that he hadn't been running to get to the rec room.
"Well, that was quick." Carly commented with droll grin.
Bluestreak ducked his head and absently rubbed the back of his helm with a servo. "I always wash up quickly." He protested sheepishly as he went to grab an energon cube from the dispenser.
"Sure ya do." She teased sarcastically. His frame was dotted with beads of water and it was clear that all he did was a brief rinse as his armor still had a few odd patches of dirt that he'd missed. She didn't say anything else though; content to only tease him a little.
Bluestreak returned shortly and flopped gently onto the large sofa, resting an elbow on the ledge at the top, taking up most all of the free space in the human area. It suddenly struck Carly how similar the young mech looked to her older brother just then.
Drawing her mind abruptly from the dangerous path her thoughts were taking, Carly picked up a freshly sharpened pencil and twirled it absently between her fingers.
"Since you're here, you might as well make yourself useful." As she spoke she began gathering up all her empty pages and a few writing tools. "I haven't had much success working on my own, so maybe a study partner might help."
Bluestreak's door wings perked up curiously at this suggestion and he finished the last of his energon quickly before asking the question already asked by the expressive appendages.
"How can I help? I mean, I'd love to help you, but I'm not quite sure how. You humans' education is so basic to us and I don't want you to get in trouble for cheating or anything like that."
"Don't worry, Blue. It's not that kind of an assignment." Carly said with a small smile. Once all of her stuff was bundled up in her arms she jumped off the edge of the human area and plopped down with a light 'thump' onto the broad back of the mech-sized couch. "It's only an English paper anyways. I just need someone to bounce ideas off of."
"Oh, I see! I can do that. What are you supposed to be writing about?" The mech questioned eagerly, his optics glowing warmly.
"I'm supposed to write about -and I'm quoting my teacher on this by the way-, 'A topic of political or economic value from a personal standpoint'." Carly blew back a piece of her fringe exasperatedly. "I don't even know where to start!"
Bluestreak hummed quietly in agreement. Human politics were so complex in comparison to Cybertronian ways. All the ins and outs of economics had never been an interest of his. Far too many things could go wrong by saying the wrong thing and that wasn't exactly his strong point. He was glad that with the Autobots he didn't have to deal with anything that way. Only Prowl and the Prime really got involved with human politics.
Carly shifted and squirmed slightly to get herself comfortable before leaning back –on Bluestreak's arm. If the young sniper had noticed he didn't say anything, so she didn't make a big deal about it. He was being strangely quiet for the moment, seemingly lost in thought.
It wasn't often that the mech chose to keep quiet about his thoughts. Normally every little thing that crossed his processor was spoken aloud. Carly craned her neck around to look up at the Praxian for a moment. It sometimes made her wonder just how much really went on inside that helm of his.
"You know..." Bluestreak started and Carly's instantly refocused her attention to what he was saying. "Spike used to do a lot of writing way back when he first met us. That was almost three years ago now, so you wouldn't have known him yet. You've only been together for what, eight months, right?"
Carly nodded and leaned forward, a silent prompting for the door winger to continue. She never knew any of this; Spike hadn't ever mentioned an interest in writing before.
"He never told you?" Bluestreak said abruptly, accurately guessing the girl's thoughts. "Before he met us Spike was the quietest literature nut you could have imagined! He was always writing things down in his diary and would go on and on about something or other he had read. He had actually planned on getting a degree in English so that he could teach literature. That all changed when he met the Autobots, though."
Carly's eyes popped wide as she slowly took in what Bluestreak was saying. Spike was a lit geek? Suddenly everything about how he acted around her made perfect sense. All the corny phrases, sweet little gifts, and just the way he treated her in general... It was all there, explained crystal clear.
"Whoa." She breathed, still stunned. "Well, that explains a lot. Everything actually."
Carly then started laughing, she couldn't help it. She just found it funny to imagine Spike, her Spike, as a weeny English teacher that looked strikingly similar to her own teacher, Mr. Tudale.
And yet, it was so easy to imagine and that made it all the funnier to her.
Several long moments later Carly had composed herself enough to mop off her sweaty forehead and dab at the moister in her eyes. It was just so hot today! Eventually Carly looked back up to Bluestreak, the mech having just watched her oddly during her laughing fit, with a question on her lips.
"How?" Carly frowned, "I mean, what changed his mind? He certainly doesn't look like a lit-nut."
Bluestreak paused to consider this before replying. "Well, it wasn't an immediate change. At first we didn't even notice, but his father did. Sparkplug had been trying to get Spike to live a little and get involved in something; a sport, a hobby, anything really, just something. That's why Spike was with him at that first oil rig the 'Cons blew up."
Carly briefly nodded her understanding and focused on trying to cool herself off as she listened to the young sniper continue.
"After hanging out with us for a while Spike started dropping off all the reading he was doing. No one really thought much of it, I mean, with the Decepticons popping up everywhere we were always on call. Oftentimes Spike would be forced to come with us and mostly just run for his life. At some point he started getting stronger, running away from 'Cons will do that, but he wasn't the scrawny kid we had first met. Bumblebee and a couple of us called him out on it one day, asking him what had changed."
Bluestreak paused, glancing down at Carly, who was smiling fondly. "He just shrugged said, 'It was time to grow up.' And then you came along about a year later and have been around for everything else that went on from there."
It was a lot for Carly to take in. Spike had never told her any of this and it made her just a little annoyed that he never said anything. Then again, the life they led was rather hectic, but she couldn't help but think that perhaps Spike had been ashamed of it.
She wasn't quite sure how this conversation was going to help her with her assignment though. She had been trying to work on it and then with one distraction after another, namely Bluestreak, she was starting to get really frustrated. She never had been good at staying level headed in the heat.
"Look, Blue, thanks so much for hanging out with me but I really need to get my paper written, and..." Carly started, but her words sounded a lot harsher out loud then they had in her head. She slowly dropped off her sentence, whipping her hair roughly out of her face, while Bluestreak just sat there watching her. He didn't look upset with her, if anything the Praxian watched her with concern.
So she tried to start again and failed miserably, the stress of the paper being due and the heat having totaled her ability to speak coherently. "I –I just, aighhh!"
Bluestreak watched the exasperated girl try to fumble through an incomprehensible sentence with worry. She had stood up and was pacing now, her skin pale and flushed while her hair was damp and clinging to her face. Discreetly, he ran a quick scan on her and immediately discovered that her internal temperature was too high and that she was far more stressed than she had originally let on.
Wordlessly the mech stood in one smooth motion and transformed in the middle of the rec room without even disturbing the human pacing on the metallic sofa. He opened one door invitingly and waved it around slightly.
Carly looked up from where she was pacing agitatedly and down to the silvery grey Datsun now sitting in front of the couch.
"Well, come on then!"
Confused and curious, Carly swiftly clambered down the front of the giant couch, half sliding, half climbing, and made her way over to the transformed mech and obediently sat down in the passenger's seat. The door closed firmly behind her and the AC suddenly started blasting at her on full bore
The effect was instantaneous.
Carly relaxed blissfully in the soothingly cold air of Bluestreak's cab. Her relief was nearly tangible as she sighed heavily. It was a few moments before she said anything, and even then it was only to apologize.
"Hey Blue?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you." Not what she had meant to say, but it was close enough.
Bluestreak understood though, "It's okay."
The silence returned momentarily, but this time it wasn't as awkward. It was a comfortable, companionable silence. For the longest while it stayed that way, and Carly could feel herself starting to drift off in the cool leather seat. It was an awful feeling and she wanted nothing more to stay where she was and take a nap, but she also knew that she needed to get her assignment done and she hadn't even started on it yet.
Carly groaned and sat upright in the leather seat. Procrastinating never got anyone anywhere. "Bluestreak, I really need to get my pa-ah aahhhh-per done."
Her sentence was interrupted by a loud yawn and Carly reflexively leaned back, stretching her spine and ankles.
Bluestreak chuckled, the lights on his radio blinking gleefully. Carly glared at the dashboard meaningfully, causing the Datsun the shake gently with hidden amusement.
"Oh, hush, you!" She slapped at the dash lightly, "I need that English grade and it's due on Monday!"
Carly crossed her arms in annoyance when the stubborn young mech finally voiced his thoughts.
"I don't think writing your essay while half asleep would be very good for your grades. Especially if the topic is politics."
"Blue! You're not helping!" Carly scolded, but a grin pulled tightly at her lips even as she spoke. The end of her sentence was punctuated with another yawn, the heat of the day having worn her down.
Bluestreak observed the human girl in his interior closely, noting her every movement and the dip in her vital signs. They were slowly adjusting back to normal and he lowered the AC output to a more rational level now that she was cooled off. However, her body still showed obvious signs of stress and fatigue that he was sure a 'nap' could fix easily.
"How about a compromise?" Bluestreak suggested slyly, reminding her subtly of the compromise, that Carly had made him earlier. "You can rest inside my air conditioned cab and take a nap. When you wake up I will help you with your English paper."
Carly raised an incredulous eyebrow, "Did you just tell me to take a nap?"
Bluestreak's radio lit up in amusement, but he continued talking, ignoring her comment. "You see, Spike would often come to me early on to talk about his literary classes 'cause I was the only one that didn't judge his interests. He would talk for hours about different writing styles and how he viewed various brainstorming techniques and the insidious usage of the oxford comma..."
"Okay, okay! I get the point, Blue!" Carly cried out in mock frustration, interrupting the transformed Autobot sniper.
"Do we have an agreement then?"
"Deal." Carly then proceeded to grumble lowly under her breath, something about beguilingly manipulative aliens according to his sensitive audio receptors. Bluestreak just laughed silently at her, his frame shaking softly in mirth.
Carly leaned back into the comfortable leather of the seat, which gently tilted backwards into a more reclined position. She was asleep within moments and Bluestreak continued to monitor her for several moments longer before also powering down into a light stasis.
Prowl walked in on them an hour or so later, planning to get some energon while the rec room was still empty, and found them both sound asleep. The smallest of smiles flickered across his faceplates and he forgoed his energon in favor of allowing them to sleep peacefully.