Barricade was beyond annoyed. Two days passed before he was willing to accept that Bumblebee's organic may have known a bit more about the fleshling than he did. And it didn't help that the Scout was the one to always bring him energon, trying for a kind remark or simple conversation that may have worked if Sam wasn't always at his peds with a snide comment and a smirk because the other organic was never anywhere in sight. On the night of the second day he finally decided to wander out of the hangar that he'd been allotted. Outside of the first day when he'd been to the Med-bay and then talked to the Prime a couple of hours after that he'd not really left it. Bumblebee had brought him any food he needed, and it seemed everyone and mech else was content to leave him to his own devices.
He'd been sent a layout of the place via databurst, and as he left his hangar he decided to head for the rec-room. If he had been looking for Miles then it would have been the most likely place, but as he wasn't interested in finding said organic he was only going because it was likely to be where Bumblebee and hopefully friendly soldiers were.
Barricade turned the corner of the building that was the Autobot barracks, wondering how many recharge berths were inside it. He gave it a curious, sideways glance, almost not being quick enough to avoid being ran over when Sideswipe came slamming out of the doors, transforming down into his alt mode and racing away.
The 'con gave the Frontliner's disappearing form an annoyed glance, taking another step forward just for another figure to dart out and trip over his ped this time. He looked down in surprise at the organic now on his hands and knees on the ground and cussing up a storm. It took him a moment to recognize Miles. His hair had been trimmed, and in military scrubs he looked older than what he really was. The teen looked up with wide hazel eyes and Barricade scanned him out of reflex, floored by the fear his reading picked up.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Ironhide's angry bellow came out of the recharge hangar, and Miles paled noticeably. Barricade scanned again just as his hormones went wild and his adrenaline peaked, the teen scrambling up and sprinting off in a random direction. It was a little comforting to know that the teen wasn't suddenly afraid of him after their fight; he was just scared to death of the stupid Autobot Weapons Specialist. Ironhide charged out of the recharge hangar, nearly taking off the door entirely. Barricade took in his new pink look, roses taped all over him, and could understand Miles' fear a bit more now. He pointed in the direction that Sideswipe went when the mech looked at him expectantly.
He watched the Weapons Specialist transform into his alt mode and race in the direction he had gestured to, waiting until he disappeared from sight before he changed his course and went to the building where the Prime's office was located. With the plaques on the wall saying what room belonged to who it wouldn't have been hard to find it again even without his map to help. He knocked on the door before just entering the room, only willing to go so far with politeness.
Optimus didn't seem surprised at all to see him. The Prime looked up from the datapad he was reading and tilted his head in acknowledgment, Barricade doing the same. Sideswipe was also in the office, but he was up against the far wall, and he had a holoform peering out of one of the windows that looked fairly nervous.
"Decided what you wanted to do, then?" the Prime asked, setting the datapad to the side.
"Indeed. I'd keep my Decepticon status, but declare neutrality outside of that. I don't wish to join the Autobots, but I will swear on my spark that I will not harm one of them or the organics on base accordingly," Barricade told him simply, not interested in actually talking or debating about it.
"Decepticon Neutral, then?" Optimus offered. "Since your weapons have already been taken you don't pose any immediate threats to any of my mechs, as you well know. I don't think you'd bother to hurt an organic if you decided to betray us, but I think it best to warn you that death would be kinder than what some of my mechs will do to you in retaliation. Ironhide and Bumblebee especially are close to the organics, and will not take kindly to losing any of them or having any of them be hurt."
Barricade scoffed, "The organics are too weak to get any enjoyment out of harming one of them, anyway. There'd be no upside to doing something so stupid."
"Oh, still fighting with Miles?" Optimus asked, and Barricade shot the Prime a glare. "Samuel mentioned it. I think he's more upset at you over it then Miles is himself from what I can tell."
"I don't know, boss." Sideswipe turned from his spot at the window, "Some of the organics are very good at hiding how upset they can be. Remember Epps when Sunny pissed him off?"
"That's true," Optimus allowed. "I do believe Sunstreaker will never target Epps directly again, after that."
Barricade looked between the Prime and the Frontliner, slightly annoyed that they were trying to worm their way into his business. He prepared to just leave when Sideswipe put a servo over the door to stop him.
"Organics are pretty easy to please," Sideswipe smirked. "I can get Miles to stop being mad at you pretty easily, if you follow what I say."
"At what price?" Barricade asked, glaring at the servo in his way.
"Keep me hidden from Ironhide for awhile and the boy will be all yours again," Sideswipe promised.
Barricade looked at the Frontliner briefly, and then back to the Prime. Optimus just looked back, both of them waiting to see what the 'con would do. Barricade contemplated just shoving Sideswipe to the side and storming out, but then he thought about how much easier things would be if Miles was on his side again. For one he'd not have to deal with Sam's haughty attitude anymore and that was almost worth it alone, though having the teen to rely on offered him an escape out of his hangar without needing to worry about how others would react around him as much.
"Fine," he growled, "But if you get too annoying I'm handing you over on a silver platter."
Miles made his way to Barricade's hangar as stealthily as he could, hiding from the side of one building to the next to make sure Ironhide wasn't around. The twins had blamed the last prank entirely on him, and the Weapons Specialist had been looking for him since that morning. The teen was starting to wonder if the twins wanted him to die, for whatever odd reason. Maybe he'd accidentally offended them in some way and he was just absolutely clueless about it.
"Hey, Barry." Miles called as he slipped quickly into the interior of the hangar. "Bee mentioned that you wanted to see me. I know he said 8:30 and it's only six, but I was in the area and Hide's out for my ass. Need a place to lay..."
The teen trailed off as he took in the sight of the hangar. He looked around in mild surprise, noting that all the boxes had been pushed in to the back of the large room, and that candles were everywhere. They ranged from pink to red to white, only some of them lit, casting the room in a warm glow. In the middle of the room, near Barricade's alt mode, was a table with a white cloth on it. There were rose petals on the table and scattered all around the ground. Barricade's holoform appeared, arms crossing over his chest as he stared at Miles.
"Are you going to have a date with someone?" Miles asked in disbelief, looking around once more.
"Don't be stupid, this is for you."
"M-me?!" Miles sputtered, "You don't even like me saying that we're friends and you want to date?"
"Date?" Barricade echoed, "What makes you think that's what this is?"
Miles looked at the 'con in complete disbelief. If it hadn't been for the annoyance he could hear in Barricade's voice and the glower on his face, he might not have guessed that he really had no idea what he was doing. But it didn't fit at all. He knew the 'con did see him as a friend, or at least hoped so, but this was far above anything the mech had hinted at before. Not to mention the entire set up just wasn't Barry at all. Which probably meant that he'd gotten the idea from somewhere, or someone, else.
"Okay, okay." Miles gestured around the room, "Who got you to do this?"
"Sideswipe."
The teen was torn between laughing and groaning, a hand raising up to run through his hair automatically, before he realized it wouldn't work as well and just lowered it again instead.
"Sideswipe has led you down some dark path that we need to move away from immediately," Miles told him, "What exactly did he say to get you to do this?"
Barricade looked annoyed, "I was conversing with the Prime and he happened to be in the room when the subject of you being angry at me came up. He sent me a link to some website with ten tips to get your boyfriend to stop being angry at you; all the reviews claimed they worked."
"Oh, that fucking..." Miles grumbled, shaking his head in disdain. "Look, there are two different meanings for boyfriend, Barry. One is a boy that's a friend, and the other is a romantic interest. Same with girlfriend."
Barricade remained silent, and the teen could only assume that the 'con was doing some research on the internet by the way the holoform stilled completely. He went over to the table and sat down in one of the chairs, resting his elbow on it and placing his head in his palm while he waited.
"This is a romantic atmosphere to you humans?" Barricade asked finally, sounding disgusted.
"This is a supposedly advanced robotic being?" Miles taunted back, ignoring it when Barricade growled at him. "I mean, really? You've watched how many TV shows and movies by now and still haven't picked up on any of this yet?"
Barricade's holoform took the seat across from him, glowering. Miles just stayed silent, unsure how to feel. He was happy that the 'con had attempted to figure out how to please him, but he had failed quite spectacularly. Sideswipe was to blame for it, he knew that, but it made him feel slightly guilty. Had Barricade thought that perhaps he was just being abandoned by the only friend he had on base, and that's why he went overboard? The teen thought about telling Barricade he hadn't even been that angry, that he had just left him alone to see if the mech would go out and associate on his own. He had been disappointed for the most part until today, when Optimus had reported back to him with good news. But somehow he knew that if he told the 'con that it would just make him angrier.
"Never listen to Sideswipe or Sunstreaker." Miles finally said, "They just like messing with people in general, apparently, but I'm pretty sure they're out to get me killed by Ironhide, too."
"I would have thought that you'd be happy I was talking with and listening to an Autobot," Barricade grumbled, and Miles tried to hide a smile at how sulky the mech sounded.
The teen started to tell Barricade exactly why he should never ever listen to the twins again, ranting about all they'd done in the past three days to nearly get him killed. He'd never ran so much in his life, and while Sam said they just liked to haze the newbies a bit, Miles felt it had gone beyond that point by now. He thought that it might just be time for a little payback, and he quickly roped the 'con into helping him.
Between Barricade and Ironhide, Sunstreaker had been easy to track and hold down until they had finished adjusting his paint with something a little more permanent than the twins had been using on Ironhide.
Miles had been the mastermind behind that idea, because while Sunstreaker had been participating in some of the pranks with his twin he had largely stayed out of it. But the teen had picked up quickly that Sunstreaker was the boss, and if the boss suffered then his subordinate would, too. Ironhide had agreed, and they had released Sunstreaker out into the middle of the base where he had to run so he wouldn't be seen by anyone else, and from there hopefully he would find Sideswipe and make his own twin suffer accordingly.
And the payback had been unexpectedly useful because it had given Barricade and Ironhide the opportunity to talk with out it being about factions or any other heavy subjects. Miles wasn't sure that it was necessarily a good thing that they were now on talking terms because of the torture they'd enjoyed putting Sunstreaker through, but he wasn't going to complain.
It wasn't until after Ironhide had left them and that they were going to meet up with Bumblebee and Sam for dinner that Miles realized he could be a possible target of Barricade's, too.
"I'm not your boyfriend, baby!
I ain't your cute little sex toy!
I'm not your lion or your tiger,
Won't be your nasty little boy!"
The song by 3oh!3 played loudly from Bumblebee's speakers as soon as Miles and Barricade walked into the Scout's line of sight. The teen had told Sam about the little incident, and it looked like Sam had told his Guardian. Miles didn't need to look up to know that red optics would be glaring down at him, and he cursed his friend for having such a big mouth.
