Jack grimaced as he lost another race to Smokescreen and the mech smirked at him. He rolled his eyes and tried to make it look like this continual losing streak hadn't affected him. Every. Damn. Time, he'd always lost. Did he really suck so much at video games that he couldn't win at least once? Though at least Smokescreen wasn't letting him win, that would just be plain humiliating.
Or rather, more humiliating than this already was.
It had been two days since they'd taken up playing video games and alternatively having to help Raf with calming down Smokescreen and Bumblebee when they would argue about which of them got to play with the console next. Jack glanced down at Raf, who smiled at him with some amusement as Bumblebee buzzed anxiously in the background and he handed the younger boy the remote. "Smokescreen, you're…grounding is over tomorrow, right?"
Smokescreen blinked at the dark-haired boy, giving Bumblebee a momentary glare as the yellow mech took his own remote but gave the boy his answer. "Yeah," he said before realization showed up in his optics, "oh, right! You sure you're not up for some real racing?"
Jack's smile was strained as he answered the mech. "I'm sure, but that doesn't mean we can't find something else to do."
Smokescreen frowned at him slightly. "Well, fine then."
Jack was about to reply to the snappish tone before his phone beeped and though his mother was worried about him still with the Autobots and let him stay with them, but that didn't mean he wasn't cut any slack on when he had to get home. He looked around the room and his eyes landed on his guardian, who was still giving Smokescreen suspicious glances. "Arcee, we have to go."
Smokescreen's mode shifted and he straightened his back as Jack walked down the steps of the platform and he followed after him and Arcee. "You know, I could drive him home." He offered and Arcee glared at him. "Okay then, what about tomorrow? We did make plans after all."
Arcee narrowed her optics. "With you around they're should be a chaperone."
Jack's head shot up to stare at his guardian in disbelief. "Arcee! Nothing will happen, not like before, never like before. Promise." He said reassuringly.
Arcee looked down at Jack momentarily before she sighed. "He gets once chance, and if something happens I'm not letting you be alone with him ever again."
Seeing as Arcee could have really said she was going to keep an eye on them, Jack took what he could get. "Alright." He said and looked at Smokescreen imploringly. "Nothing's going to happen, right?"
Smokescreen scoffed. "Of course not, I'm offended you'd even think that." He said and looked slyly down at Jack. "Though you weren't complaining much before."
Jack saw Arcee's optic twitch and he cut in quickly. "Well this is going to be different." He said firmly.
He'd make sure it would be.
Because it was still a school day, Jack and Smokescreen worked out some of the finer details that the mech could pick him up after his shift was over. The teen had a light-hearted feeling in him as he waited for the clock to signal he could leave; he hadn't spent much time around Smokescreen, but he quite honestly liked the time they did spend together playing video games.
Also, this would be the first time since the 'incident' that they'd be spending alone together without anyone nearby. To him this was a big deal.
After finishing up his last order and letting the next person take over, Jack took off his work cap and clocked out. He walked outside and looked around to see if Smokescreen had shown up, but when seeing that the mech hadn't, he leaned back against the wall and waited. He noticed Sierra walking up towards him and straightened his back. "Uh, hi, Sierra."
The girl looked at him with a brief smile. "Hey, Jack, you just get off work?"
Jack nodded and smiled back at her. "Yeah, you going in?" he flushed and thought duh, why else would she be here?
Sierra looked at the entrance of the establishment before she looked back at Jack. "Uh, no, I saw you and thought I'd just strike up a conversation." She shrugged. "Is that too weird?"
Jack paused, but who was he to say what was too weird? Certainly not him. "No, er, so how's it going?"
"Good, really good." Sierra replied awkwardly. "Are you doing anything now?"
"Well, actually I'm waiting for someone to show up." Jack replied and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oh, um, is it a date?" Sierra asked nervously.
Jack blinked before he shook his head. "No, he and I had this planned for a bit now. He was…grounded and had to wait until he could leave his house." He explained and Sierra looked a touch relieved when she smiled at him again.
"Then are you doing anything tomorrow night?" she asked.
"You mean you wanna go on a date, with me?" Jack asked in disbelief.
Sierra nodded. "Yeah, so what do you say?"
While still a bit stunned, Jack managed to reply through his stupor. "I'd like that, so pick you up at 7, or is that too early?"
Sierra giggled into her hand. "That's fine, and maybe we could catch one of those drive-in movies."
"That'd be great." Jack replied and caught sight of Smokescreen pulling up into the parking lot. "Ah, that'd be my ride."
Sierra looked behind her at the sports car. "Your friend has cool car."
Jack smiled. "He sure is- does." He said chuckling nervously and hoped Sierra didn't catch his slip up.
The redhead showed no notice of it though as she looked back at Jack. "I guess I'll see you at seven?"
"On the dot." Jack replied and hurried over to Smokescreen's passenger side, sagging into the seat with a sigh.
"What's with you?" The mech asked pulling out of the parking lot.
Jack smiled down at the steering wheel. He didn't know if the Autobot had any real conception of human courtship rituals, but this was just too good to keep to himself. "I just agreed to go on a date with the prettiest girl in my school tomorrow; were going to a drive-in movie."
"A date? What's that?" Smokescreen questioned.
"It's when two people go out together." Jack replied.
"Then is that what we're doing?" Smokescreen asked curiously.
Jack flushed as he quickly corrected his statement. "A date is when two people who are romantically interested in each other go out together. You and I just friends hanging out; like what we've been doing at the base."
Smokescreen chuckled. "With no supervision either." He paused momentarily. "So what can we do if you don't wanna race?"
"There's still other stuff we can do." Jack explained patiently. "Like I can still show you around; we never really did get to finish that."
Smokescreen hummed for a moment in thought before he replied. "Well then I guess that means we'll be on the road for the long haul then? And if we happen to come by some street racing…"
Jack rolled his eyes. "No racing."
"Buzz kill." Smokescreen said shortly. "But I'll get you to loosen up like I did before."
"As long as it doesn't involve pranks, then I wouldn't mind so much." Jack replied and Smokescreen remained silent. Jack blinked and he stared down incredulously at the mech. "Please tell me that it doesn't."
The mech remained silent and Jack could almost imagine the sullen look the mech was giving him.
