"We Love You, Optimus Prime"—A TFP Story
Summary: takes place after the events of the episode "Orion Pax, pt. 3". Optimus gains his memories and returns to base to his friends and family. He appreciates that they were all worried for him, but they think he doesn't know how much they mean to him. So, the humans come up with a plan.
Transformers © Hasbro
Lily and Kylie ©
The Autobots and the humans gazed at the ground-bridge as one last member, the member that had been missing for months, stepped through in a blinding light. Their hearts and sparks leapt for joy at the familiar face of their leader and trusted friend, Optimus Prime. As the bridge closed behind him, he glanced around him at his team, and looked down to see Rafael heading towards him as he retracted his mask.
"Optimus...?" Ratchet said.
The Prime smiled at the young boy. "Hello, Rafael."
At this, the four human children exclaimed happily. "He remembers us! Awesome!" Miko cheered.
Optimus looked to his lower left as he felt something touch his hand, and he met eyes with Lily. Her optics were full or happiness and worry; it could also be clearly seen on her face. Optimus fatherly smiled and lifted Lily into his arms, hugging her and comforting her. Then the others went up to him saying how worried they were about him and how much they missed him, hugging him as well. He smiled comfortingly and merely told them he was fine.
Everyone was relieved to have the big guy back where he belonged. But as soon as everyone had greeted Prime, he returned to his old, mellow self, the Prime who concealed emotion and hardly smiled. Just like that. No warning. They knew it was his normal behavior, but now wasn't the time to be acting like that. Did he not fully understand their concern for his wellbeing during his absence, and their happiness to have him back?
The young humans volunteered to do something about it and show him.
They bought their time, watching, waiting, plotting. They waited until a little later that night when things began to settle. The humans didn't tell anyone about their plan; they needed it to be super secret so Optimus wouldn't suspect anything.
Jack, Miko, Raf, and Kylie snuck into the control center, where Optimus Prime was observing the monitors. They all glanced at each other and nodded; their plan was to climb all the way to the top of Optimus and hug him, showing him how much they love him. They tiptoed up to his feet, not making a single sound, got a firm, yet gently grip on his armor and they started to climb. They couldn't help but find it hilarious that the big guy didn't notice them.
Optimus Prime had been focused on the computer screen when he felt a strange feeling on his upper leg. Glancing down, he realized the human children were there! His optics widened a little in surprise, then relaxed. "What are you four doing?" he asked.
"What does it look like?" Miko said. "We are climbing Mount Optimus, and we won't stop until we get to the top!"
Optimus rolled his eyes, finding it completely silly and also ridiculous for the humans to do such a thing. He tried not to move so much so the children wouldn't get hurt, or lose grip and fall. That would be horrible. And he didn't mind this, really.
Until a strange tingle shivered up his neuro-network. He let out a tiny cry and shivered. Glancing down again, he saw the humans staring back up at him with bewildered expressions on their faces—and they were clinging to the plating of his abdomen.
"You okay, Optimus?" Raf asked.
Optimus gave himself a few seconds to calm down before replying. "Yes, Rafael...I am fine. What happened?"
"Kylie's foot slipped, that's all," said Jack, gesturing to the tiny girl above him.
Of course, it did, Optimus thought worriedly, but didn't let it show. "I see." He saw the apologetic look in little Kylie's eyes and smiled. "It's alright, Kylie. You did not hurt me." "You've done the exact opposite," he had thought of saying, but kept it to himself.
He had expected the human children to continue climbing, but after a moment, he secretly glanced down—and saw them removing their shoes and tossing them to the floor. "Now what are you doing that for?"
"Oh, just to help us climb easier," Miko said, smiling.
Optimus raised an optic ridge. Help you climb easier? I'd suspect a soft substance against a slick one would do the exact oppo—AHA! Optimus let out another cry, this time feeling a small foot slide across the midsection of his belly. Glancing down again, he saw the humans grinning with an evil, yet playfulness in their eyes. This time, he let the worry show on his face plate. "W-What are you doing?"
"What do you mean?" Jack asked as innocently as possible.
Before Optimus could reply, he felt another small foot shuffle across his upper belly, and looked to see Rafael stifling a giggle. Optimus felt his cheek plating becoming hot, realizing what the children were think. Scrap...
"What do you guys think?" Miko said to the others. "Should we continue to the top or just have fun here?"
"Here," Jack and Raf instantly said, and they looked down to Kylie. After she pondered, she let them know her answer by patting her hand on Optimus's stomach.
"Here it is, then!" Miko exclaimed, and all four human children began sliding their hands and socked feet across Prime's belly.
Optimus tensed up and slightly hunched over, pressing one hand over his mouth to suppress his giggling and other hovering over his stomach. "Ch-Children...please," Optimus said as he staggered back from the monitor, trying not to let the tickling feeling get to him, "don't...s-stop!"
"Don't stop? Okay!" Miko said and she dug the fingers of one hand in between two of his stomach plating.
Optimus nearly lost it but couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh or two. "No...I-I meant for you to..." It was pointless now. They were not going to cease tickling his belly, and he couldn't remove them out of fear of harming them. As his legs began to buckle, Optimus started laughing from behind his hand and knelt down onto the floor, and then laid down on his back.
"Attack!" Miko announced and they all raced to different parts of Optimus's stomach. Even the sensation of feeling them running and sliding around on his belly made the Prime laugh harder. Miko claimed the mid-lower section of Optimus's belly, where the belly button would be to a human. Rafael got his upper belly and upper right side, sliding his fingers softly along his side and prodding his belly with his feet. Jack handled Optimus's lower left side, squeezing the metal near the hip joint and laughed as the Prime jolted. Little Kylie stayed on the upper left side and shuffled the bottoms of her socked feet in circles.
"HAHAHAHA! CH-CHILDREN, PLEASE...STOP THIS!" Optimus laughed, still keeping a hand over his mouth, trying to quiet his uncontrollable giggles. "W-WHY ARE YOU DOHOHOING THIS?! HAHAHAHA!"
"We were just gonna climb to the very top and hug you," said Raf.
"Until we discovered this," Miko said mischievously as she tickled with one hand and poked with the other. "So now, we're just gonna hang here and show our love for you!"
"HAHAHAHA! HEHEHE! M-MIKO, PLEASE...DON'T DO THAT-HAHA!...R-RAFAEL...S-STOP—HEEHEEHEE! KYLIE, THAT'S TICKLING—JACK! AHAHAHA! DON'T DO THAT-HAHAHAHA!" Optimus was no in berserks. He had to restrain himself from thrashing around so he wouldn't hurt his human friends—but the tickling was so unbearable. Unable to contain is any longer, Optimus laid flat on his back and howled.
"AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAAAAAAA! HEHEHEHEHE! NOHOHOHOHO! STAHAHAP IHIHIT! NOHO MOHOHORE! Y-YOU'VE DOHONE EHEEHEEHEENOUGH! HEEHEEHEE-HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Prime was on the brink of tears at this point. His cheek plates blushed madly, his sides and stomach began aching from laughing so hard and being tensed up. While he couldn't squirm around much, he did kick his legs and flares his arms a little. He was practically a full-grown sparkling! A wriggling, giggling mess on the floor, completely at the mercy of four, playful human children. If he were an actual sparkling, there would have been some Energon to clean up, but being a mech, he would not allow such a thing to happen.
Optimus was now desperate to get the humans stop, but he couldn't do it himself. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! ASSIST...HAHAHAHA! I-I AM IN NEED...OF ASSIST...! OH, PRIMUS, SOMEONE HEHEHEHELP ME!"
The Autobots came running in at Optimus's plea—and were dumbfounded at what they saw. Jack, Miko, Raf and Kylie were...tickling Optimus? And Optimus was laughing? Most of them had never seen such a thing before.
"A-AUTOBOTS...HEHEHEHE...H-HELP! THEY WON'T...S-STOP! HAHAHAHAHA!" Optimus begged, but the other members of Team Prime only stood there, grinning like fools. Even Ratchet couldn't help but watch.
Lily giggled, folding her arms over her chest. "Do I dare ask how you got into this kind of situation, Father?"
"I...HAHAHAHAHA! I NOW...ORDER YOU AHAHAHA-ALL...TO GET THE CHILDREN TO STOP!" But the Autobots did not heed his command. Now he was ready to lose it, letting tears of laughter run down his face. "OH, PLEASE HELP MEEHEEHEE! NO MOHOHORE! I BEG OF YOU...STAAAHAHAHAHAP!"
Ratchet chuckled. "Alright now, children," he said as Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Lily went over to collect their human companions. "I think he's had enough."
Once the children were removed from his stomach, the tickling sensation, along with Optimus's laughter, gradually stopped, leaving the leader of the Autobots breathing heavily on the floor, his face stained with tears and his overheated systems trying to cool themselves down.
"Are you alright, sir?" asked Bulkhead as he held a mischievously giggling Miko.
"Just...give me...a moment," Optimus said, pointing a finger to the ceiling. After a few minutes, Optimus wiped away the tears before they dried and stained his face plate, and he wearily got to his feet. Bumblebee went over to assist him. Now, he got his assist! Optimus looked to all four human children, slightly glaring. "Now...would one of you care to tell me what that was about?"
"A-Are you mad at us?" Raf asked.
Optimus blinked at the question. "No, I am not angry, Rafael. I just want to know why you did what you did."
"Oh, why can't you just say they tickled your tummy?" Lily said with an exasperated sigh.
"Well," Jack began, "we were all so happy that you came back...but we don't think you really know how much we were worried about you."
"We originally planned on climbing on you to the top and hug you there, to show you how much we love you," added Miko.
"We really missed you," Raf said, and all the Autobots nodded in agreement.
Optimus was taken aback by their words. They hit him right on the spark; he felt tears threatening to build up in his eyes but he kept them down. He lowered his gaze a little and slightly turned away. "I...I did not mean to worry you so," he said. "I only did what I did, down in the Earth's core, to save this planet. I was aware of the risks...but I never knew how they would affect those I care about...and..." He was afraid to speak any further, thinking he'd burst into tears.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw little Kylie, sitting in Lily's hands, reaching out...to him? She had a desperate look in her eyes, as if begging him to take her. Lily saw this and held her out to him, smiling. Slowly and gently, Optimus let Kylie walk onto his hand. "Yes, little one?" he asked her.
Kylie responded by pointing to his chest. When Optimus didn't understand, she pointed to herself, and then to his chest again. When he didn't understand this, she held her hand out the way Optimus was, and pulled it towards her chest. Optimus finally understood and slowly guided his hand to his chest. He wondered why Kylie wanted him to do this—then he saw her cling to his chest plating, snuggling him as she began to cry.
Optimus was surprised. All those tears over him...he felt a faint cramp, as well as a warm feeling, in his spark, as he let the tiny human girl's love overwhelm him. He shielded her with his other hand, as if in an attempted hug, letting a tear or two slip from his eyes.
Then he felt many pairs of arms wrap around him and looked to see his teammates hugging him. He let their human companions climb onto his hand next to Kylie and they hugged him like she did. So much love...so much care...He had never felt so much of it. His face slightly cringed as more tears fell from his eyes, and he used his free arm to wrap them around his friends...his family.
"You really scared us, Optimus," said Arcee as tears streamed down her face.
"We thought we'd never get you back," Bulkhead said, keeping his head low.
"We'd be so lost without you, sir..." Bumblebee wept.
"I share their concern and fear, Optimus," Ratchet meekly said, letting a tear fall. "You've always been more than a friend to me...I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."
"I-I was so scared," Lily sobbed. "I didn't want to lose another Papa...!"
Stop it! Please, stop! Optimus begged. They had no idea how badly he wanted to confess his love and care for his teammates and friends...They had no idea. All the Prime could say was, "Thank you all...for your kind words..."
"We love you, Optimus," said Rafael, glancing up.
Optimus looked down at Raf's tear-stained face and smiled. "Thank you, Rafael."
"Don't you love us?" asked Miko, wiping her eyes, only to have more tears come.
"Of course, I do."
"Then, say it."
How could Optimus say it without bursting into tears?...But, saying such a thing is worth it, right?
"I love you all, too...very much."
END