AN: Welcome back to Drone! Since last year's February themed challenge went so well, I decided that I wanted to do another for this February. And Drone won the vote over on dA :D Because I already have an "official" sequel to Drone in the works, this interlude of sorts will be used to connect the first story and the subsequent sequel I'll publish sometime in the near future (hopefully). So, some of the chapters may seem kind of random, but it all serves a purpose in the end :3

Now for the "rules" this go around: like last year, each chapter will be titled and based around the themes from a chosen list (which can be found on my profile), and all the themes that will be used have been chosen randomly via a number generator. Unlike in Drone, the word limit won't be 200 words or less. Instead, I'm going to be aiming for around 1000 words or less, but some chapters may still be drabble length. I wanted to keep some kind of element of challenge to this ;P

So, hopefully you guys enjoy this month of A Drone Named Jeffery :D

A Drone Named Jeffrey

Chapter 1

Chores

My name is Jeffrey.

I am a Vehicon.

I also enjoy long rides down barren stretches of road, 12 o'clock soaps, and the air-fresheners that are labeled "Vanilla." Seriously, of all the air-fresheners my human has forced upon me, vanilla has by far been the least disgusting. I still don't get the point of it, but whatever.

I said all of that just to say this: I'm not a "manual labor" kind of mech. Sure, once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past of R-49S-7, I threw myself into raging battles with little pause, but that's totally different. Luxury might not have been a word in my vocabulary back in my 'Con days, but I certainly hadn't been coded to be a miner.

So, I laughed in response to Riley's demand. I laughed so hard that my visor started to glitch a bit. Once my frame had heated one whole unit above normal, I ended with a harsh vent. "I'm starting to get why the Autobots like you squishies so much. You're pretty funny when you want to be."

Riley glared up at me. It was funny how she was still so tiny even when I crouched down to half my height. Funny and tiny. I was starting to learn that by human standards that would make Riley "cute" or something.

"I'm not joking." I tilted my head and received a pointed gesture in the direction of the tiny shelter we stood in front of. "Dad says you can't stay at the garage anymore because he needs the space to fix other broken cars, which you aren't anymore. But before you get to move in here, dad said I had to clean out the garage for you to stay in. And I'm not doing all of that by myself."

"This is a garage?" I ducked my head to get a better look inside. My plating clamped down when I saw the thick layer of dust on the front row of boxes and the wispy strands of web in the high corners of the back wall. "It's so tiny."

"It's the average size for a garage."

"But…but the other one is a lot bigger."

Maybe later I'll look back on this memory and be ashamed of how high-pitched and whiny my voice became. Right now, all I see is dust, webs, and this little creature scuttling across the ground in front of me. I should blow a tire and go back to the other, better, cleaner garage across town. Besides, my noon soaps should be starting soon.

…what have I become?

"That's a garage—as in a repair shop. This is a garage…garage."

I stared inside for a moment longer before standing up. "Nope."

"Come on, Jeffrey!" I shook my head and crossed my arms when Riley began pushing on my leg. "Get back down here before our senile neighbors see you. The last thing we need is one of them having an aneurysm or something."

I looked over the "high," wooden fence that enclosed the backyard, spotting some slobbery creature rolling around the yard on one side and a large enclosure of water on the other. I thought humans preferred to clean themselves inside? "What's an aneurysm?"

"It's—nevermind! If you want a place to sleep, you'll start helping clean this garage out."

"I don't sleep."

"You don't…then what are you doing when I come into the garage and you don't respond?"

"Recharging."

"Like a phone?"

"Yes." I glanced down at my human. "What's a phone?"

Riley shook her head. "Stop trying to distract me! We're cleaning this garage, and that's it."

"Nope. I wanna go back to the other."

"You don't have that choice."

"Don't care—already made my choice."

"You can't make another choice when there isn't one offered!"

I crouched down and used a digit to gently poke Riley. "Gently" still caused her to fall onto her posterior, but that was better than flattening her against the ground...which I may or may not have done in the past. "I think you're about to have aneurysm."

Riley snarled between her teeth and swatted at my finger. She jumped up, mouth wide open and face turning redder, when she suddenly stopped and stared up at me. I stared back, arms balancing on the top of my knee joints, and we silently stared at each other.

She made the first move, reaching into her pocket to pull out a small ring of keys. Of the two, she wielded the one that she pretended to use when riding inside of me. "I hear you like your freshly waxed, green paint, Jeffrey."

My armor, having relaxed after our little back and forth, clamped back down again. "Put that key away, Riley."

"Be a real shame if anything happened to it."

I was this close to squishing my human. I like my paint-job—it's become one of my best features. That's why I keep it nice and clean with that fancy soap and make my alarm go off whenever a human with dirty hands attempted to touch me. I was going to make sure this paint-job lasted longer than the last one!

And yes, I am aware that I'm channeling my inner Knock Out.

Fortunately, it didn't come to that. Riley's face scrunched up in an ugly expression that didn't work for her, and she dropped her keys with a glare. "Fine, you win. I spent too much time making you look good just to mess it up. You better be happy that I care about my work."

My engine began to purr as I watched Riley grab the first box and drag it out. I folded down into my alternative form and rolled back and forth on my wheels in victory, choosing to ignore the object Riley threw at me. Maybe living with a human wouldn't be that bad after all.

"Are you going to get the dust too?"

"Nope."

"But…the dust!"

"Don't care—already made my choice."

"…I hate you."