Optimus' interior was warm and dark. His heaters blasted the warm air at her face, her feet, keeping the cab at a temperature that made her feel sleepy. His radio was on, but turned down so June had to strain her ears to hear the piano notes. She leaned back in her seat, and looked over at the driver's seat. The wheel twitched and made minor corrections on its own, no driver occupying the seat, but then, before her eyes, a driver materalized.

He had brown hair cropped short. His jawline and chin were darkened with light stubble. When he looked at her, June saw how blue his eyes were. He was wearing a loose blue shirt and jeans. Still looking at her, the driver held up his hand and a cap materialized in his grasp. He slapped it down on his head, the Autobot insignia stitched into the front. "Like?"

"Very," June said as she moved closer and touched his arm. It felt warm, and very real. "What is it?"

"A hologram."

"It doesn't feel like a hologram," she whispered and she touched his face. What felt like real stubble rasped under her palms and the driver smiled, leaning his face into her hand.

"Your hands are cold," he purred.

"You can feel it?"

"Sure. I have pleasure and pain sensors on this little make-believe body." His smile faded into a thin line as the driver focused on driving. June tilted her head.

"Is this you? What you look like when you're human?"

The hologram smiled again. "It is how I want to look as a human..." He looked down at his shirt and pulled on it, sighing. "But...it is just make-believe..."

He stopped talking as he parked the semi in a drive-in movie theater. "I thought the movies playing would be fun..."

"What is it?" June hadn't been paying attention to the sign. Instead she was thinking about this new opportunity that had opened up quite nicely.

"Inside Out and Minions. I heard the kids talking about it. I would have taken them this evening, but three teenagers and all their junk, fitting in this little cab? No, no...so instead, I commed Bumblebee and he is taking them."

On cue, Bumblebee pulled into the theater, parking neatly three rows in front of June and Optimus. They were in the back row, all the way back. No one was even remotely around them. June looked at Optimus curiously, wondering what else he had on his mind besides a movie, but he pulled out a box of treats he had spared from the kids. "Here...in case you get hungry. I have Energon in this cup...for me." He held it up for her to see, though it wasn't necessary. She believed him.

The first clip, the national anthem, started and everyone else got out of their cars and put their right hands over their hearts, but June had her eyes on Optimus, and his eyes were on her. She drummed her fingers on her thighs, biting her lip a little. What were they going to do? Surely Optimus wasn't interested in these child movies...

But as soon as the first scene opened, Optimus' eyes were drawn away and he watched the screen. June sighed gently and descended on the Cracker Jack box.

A quarter of the way into the movie, when Joy and Saddness were sucked out of Headquarters, Optimus' attention shifted to her again. June was caught in the act of gazing and she expected a reprimand or a smile, and instead she got a sigh. He reached over and touched her head, stroking her hair gently as he jerked his head to the side. June lifted her head and looked deeper into the cab, seeing the sleeper portion. She crawled into it and gasped when Optimus followed her lead, his hand closing around her wrist.

"Shh..." He drew the curtains on the sleeper area, stopping slightly before smiling a little. He snapped his fingers, again unecessarily, and two holograms popped into the seats. First was an Optimus and in the passenger seat was a June. The windows untinted just slightly.

"Whoa..." She leaned forward and touched the second Optimus' arm, laughing. "That's so cool..." She looked at the June and touched her arm, disappointed she didn't feel the touch.

"You won't feel what happens to this body, but I feel what happens to that one." He looked at his double and June reached around again to touch it.

"You mean, you feel that?"

"Yes," laughed Optimus. He sat back a little on his heels, purring lightly. June smiled and gave his arm a friendly pinch. "Ow," he gasped, looking at his arm. Two red marks formed on the Optimuses and the original hologram gave her a look. "I felt that."

"I know," she smiled. She sat cross-legged on the other side of the sleeper. Optimus drew the curtains the rest of the way, plunging the area into darkness. June shivered.

"Are you cold?" In response, the cab's heaters started blowing again.

"No, no," she mumbled.

Optimus sounded closer when he spoke again. "I was just making sure."

"Optimus, what are you doing?"

He hesitated. June heard him inch a little closer. "You know those things that come from bad choices?"

"Mistakes?"

"I'm about to make one..."

He kissed her gently, his hand closing around her arm. Stubble rubbed against her face, soft bursts of breath tickled her skin, his sweet, mint scent filling her nose and making her exhale in a dream-like way. Optimus pulled his head back, watching her.

"Did I hurt you?" He shook a little, his eyes nervously shifting from her eyes to her arm. "I-I am sorry..."

"Optimus." She leaned forward and kissed him, touching his chest. "You didn't hurt me. Why are you worried?"

"I have never interfaced with a human before," he whispered. "I do not know what your body is like."

June watched him as his eyes lowered to her shirt and he grabbed the hem gently. "Optimus, this is fast...this is really fast," she mumbled as he pulled her shirt off.

"I know...and I am sorry." He moved closer, pulling her into his lap as he kissed down her shoulder onto her arm. "My race needs physical contact. I have not allowed myself to get close to anyone, Cybertronian or otherwise, and I feel myself grow weary of living alone." He pulled her bra strap down and kissed where it had been. He reached around behind her and undid the clasps, pulling the bra away and tossing it behind him. He touched her face, whining gently as he kissed her jaw insistently.

June was frozen. She didn't know what to do and so she remained still, her eyes wide and her mouth open. For thirteen years after Jack's father finally left, she had avoided all physical contact given by men other than hugs from her own son. She had dreamed for someone to do this to her, for someone she least expected to come out of the blue and confess he needed her in his life. But now that it was happening...what was she to do?

Optimus was laying her down, touching her hips and breathing her name into her skin. "June...June, answer me. Am I offending you, in anyway? What are you feeling? June?" He lifted his head and stared at her blank face. "I...do not know what to do if you do not answer me..."

June jerked and looked at him a little, whining gently as she whispered, "Don't stop."

Optimus smiled and went back to kissing down her body. June reached down and touched his head. He looked up in surprise, laying one last kiss on her ribs before he waited for her to say something, but instead of doing any such thing, she laid her head back down and sighed softly.

She needed this. She needed feeling important to someone, and who better than Optimus, the mech she had known for months as a loving, compassionate leader with endless patience?

He gently reached forward, resting one rough palm on her breast. She flinched and looked at him. They weren't big, by any standard. Nestled in B-cups, they didn't attract any attention, rarely her own, and only when she showered every other night. But Optimus was gazing at them with wonder, kneading the tender skin and slowly pinching a nipple between two fingers. He looked at her before he leaned forward and planted a kiss on the pink nub. June smiled and sighed softly, her eyes gently closing.

"This is what I needed," June sighed and she looked at him. He was touching her belly button with the same wonder he had shown for her breasts. He looked at her and smiled a little at her words.

"Though we have only known each other for four months, three days, and eight hours, I know you better than any human. I have studied you, your expressions..." He trailed off and he looked at the button on her jeans. She touched his head.

"Do it."

Optimus watched her lift her hips and he undid her button, pulling her jeans off her legs, and June winced as the hair on her legs rubbed on his arm. She hadn't shaved in a couple days, figuring she'd (eventually) get around to it, but she never did. An apology was on her tongue, but Optimus dropped to his belly and stared at her legs, touching them gently and smiling.

"You are fuzzy..."

June curled her arms up, her elbows protecting her ribs and chest while her hands muffled her laughter and she stayed like that, watching him for a long time while he rubbed her legs and smiled. Then his eyes wandered up to her thighs, which he touched tenderly. Purple lines ruined her once-perfect skin and she looked away.

"How pretty," he whispered.

"Those are stretch marks. They're not pretty. They're evidence of me getting fat."

He looked at her, his smile fading. "Oh?" He looked back down at the lines and he kissed them fondly. June gaped at him. "I think they are pretty, and if my word as a Prime is law, then every woman with 'stretch marks' is pretty."

He saw more on her belly and he touched them gingerly as well, laughing quietly. "You are so very pretty..."

June felt tears well up in her eyes. She could list several men that would see her and only think of her as fomerly pretty or once beautiful and here was an alien masquerading as a human saying that she was, currently, "very pretty", "so very pretty".

He became interested in a new thing on her body, her underwear. He frowned at it and tugged on the flimsy fabric that had been wonderful for a good three years, but was now losing its elastic band and was becoming sheer. He looked at her curiously, slowly pulling them off when she lifted her hips again. He sat back as he sighed, staring at her completely. His eyes flicked up to her face and he smiled. "Femmes have these..." He leaned forward and touched her between her legs. "They call them valves. And they are very respected. A sealed valve is worshipped by their parter and a broken valve is kissed tenderly. Every femme has value. Our culture ensured that, mostly. After the war started, femmes became pleasuredrones and were only used for their valves..." He frowned down at June, sighing gently. "I...wish things had been different. Then my mate would be alive."

June, who had been listening attentively and gazing at him with affection, was now feeling inadequate. She pulled away and Optimus let her, his eyes drawing downward as he sighed.

"I am sorry. I still miss her, even though it has been centuries."

June watched him for a long time, slowly coming back to him only to push him down. "I still miss the man that harmed my child, only because he was my husband, and when we were dating, he was an angel...but then I messed up." She frowned as she remembered their third date ending in a hotel room, her clothes on the floor and his just barely on. She looked up at Optimus, who was brightening slowly back up. He smiled a little and kissed her gently.

"Then we are both missing the past, but the future is what I desire most." He laid under her, breathing softly. He smiled at her. "Though it is possible for me to simply remove the holographic clothing and make them disappear, you taking them off is entirely possible and highly enjoyable."

She tore the shirt in two, shredding the imaginary shirt. She stared down at his chest and touched it, seeing scars where there shouldn't be. "Who hurt you so badly?"

He smiled and sat up, pointing out each one and telling a brief story about how he got it and where. June had to push him back down in order for him to stop.

"Sorry, sorry..." He smiled a little more, his teeth showing through. He bit his lip.

"I'm not interested in your past," she said as she kissed his mouth. "Show me your future."

"Our future." He purred and tugged on his pants, and then they were gone. He laid quietly in front of her, completely exposed. "After this, I am not letting you away from me for even a moment."

June crawled on top of him and smiled a little, laying her head on his chest while she got comfortable, the only thing she knew how to do. But Optimus surprised her by touching her down there, working a finger inside and sighing.

"You are not ready," he said and he pulled his finger out, laying her down. "Your valve will refuse me and it will only be painful if I proceed."

June watched him, nodding weakly. Did this mean that they weren't going to...? She went to sit up, but Optimus touched her knee and spread her legs a little wider, ducking his head to plant a kiss on her inner thigh.

"Stay quiet," he breathed. "As quiet as you can manage. My cab is not sound proof."

She watched him as he flicked his gaze back to her face while he opened his mouth and pressed his hot tongue to her clit, parting her petals. She dug her fingers into the mattress.

"Oh," she groaned. He immediately stopped.

"Does it hurt?"

"No, don't stop...please..." She touched his head and whined gently. "Please..."

He smiled and nodded, ducking his head again to work at her...valve. June tilted her head, smiling. She kind of liked how that sounded, better than any word for it on Earth. She looked down at him and buried her fingers in his hair, tugging lightly.

When he was satisfied, he lifted his head and sat back. "I believe you are ready now..."

While she laid down, he continued to speak. "Now...femmes can take it rough, but valves are delicate." As he spoke, he rubbed her entrance with a finger, watching her face. "And you are far more delicate than anything I have ever seen. I only hope that this holographic body is as gentle as your men are." He ducked his head to kiss her ear. "And, June...do not think for a moment that I desire someone else in your place..."

"I won't," she promised and she watched him position himself over her, slowly spreading her legs just a little bit more. "I'm ready."

He moved his hand to thread his fingers through hers and he kissed her gently. Then he was inside and she arched up into him.

Jack's creation had been rough, she remembered. His father had been forceful, demanding, and he had pushed her to her limits, but Optimus was the opposite. He watched her face, moved slowly and carefully, and was continually asking for an update in her emotional state.

"How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine, Optimus."

"Are you sure? If this is too much, I can stop and we can pretend this never happened."

"Don't ruin this for me, please. We both have been avoiding contact. This is perfect, Optimus. I mean it when I say that."

"We really should be doing this on a bed. On my berth, even, not in the cab of my alt mode, not inside me."

"Someday we will."

"And you are sure you are fi-"

"Don't even finish that question, Optimus. I'm fine."

He gave a small smile then and he kissed her, gently picking up his pace. He watched her, tilting his head one way and then the other until he started to quiver. "June..."

"Don't ask me if I'm okay."

"My body is not functioning."

"It is functioning fine. You are reaching your..." She blushed and tried to say the word.

"Overload? No, no. That can't be it..I...I usually last longer than this. I am sorry..."

"How long has it been?"

"An hour and forty-five minutes."

"I'd say you're right on schedule." She shifted where she laid, panting softly. "You made it longer than my husband."

He looked uncertain for a moment, but his body had had enough. June hugged him as he overloaded into her. He leaned forward, resting his head on the side of the cab. He was breathing heavily, sweat dripping down from his body. He watched her, his lips spreading in a smile. "Not bad?"

"Not bad at all."

ooo

Ratchet greeted Bumblebee and Optimus when they returned, not seeing June carefully tucked in the cab of his leader. "Prime, a word?"

Optimus nodded and walked to him, still smiling as he had been driving home.

"I was watching your life signals, in case the Decepticons came and decided to attack. I know Knock Out goes to those types of things...anyway, your spark-rate picked up dramatically. At first I laughed because you had finally gotten yourself into a scary movie, but then I looked up what you were watching. Inside Out and Minions are the top ten non-scary films in the world! So I got curious. Did something happen? Did, I don't know, one of your wounds you've been hiding from me open up and were you draining out? Did you know that everything was fine, except there was a significant drop in," he stopped to look at his data pad, "in your reproductive fluids? What were you doing? Self-servicing during a child's movie?"

How would he begin? He groaned and touched his helm, making a miserable face. "Ratchet, I have a helm-ache..."

"Probably from fragging June into your cab!"

He flinched.

"Your energy also went down from projecting three holoforms, one of which was extremely overworked for almost two hours."

Optimus stared at him. "What do you want from me?"

"To be careful with yourself, Prime! What? Expected me to reprimand you for finally getting over Aleta? No, no...I'm glad you've finally picked yourself up and moved on. At last, our Prime can finally get back to being his old self. Thank Primus! But don't kill yourself in the process, will you?"

ooo

"Ratchet sounded mad," June mumbled as she was laid on Optimus' pillow. He laid his helm on the other pillow, laying a soft corner of blanket on her while he tucked himself in.

"He was worried."

June looked at him. "What does this make us now, Optimus?"

"This makes us mates."