Chapter Twelve: Relationships Suck Ass Hardcore When They Are Your Friends.
A/N can you guess who's got a paper cut on the tip of their finger? What idiot is painfully typing and leaving blood upon their key bored to clean as soon as chapter is finished? Now this is dedication. the title is referring to all types of relationships. Friendships, family, actually relationships. Long chapter for you all because I was too lazy to figure out when to stop and begin next chapter.
October crept through the base, once again avoiding Ratchet. The splinter in her finger wasn't painful. Anymore. She had howled like a baby at first upon receiving it, because let's face it splinters are in the top three right below paper cuts in pain, and when he had told her to calm down so he could remove it she bolted. Ran right away from his transforming body to escape the soon to be formed holoform.
Now, after a good ten minutes, her finger barely throbbed. Ratchet had been lost nearly immediately due to her speed and ability to fit through doors seconds before they were closed. He had to waist precious time and momentum to type in key codes for several of the doors she had slipped through. Her arm was better after the passed two days but it itched like all holy hell.
Her week hadn't been a good one. Getting shot, the twins, Sam deciding to go to college her bike tire popping, falling down steps and scraping her knee, Mikaela and Sam fighting and thinking about breaking up, then finally the splinter. Right now all she wanted was peace and to be left alone.
A thundering 'Boom!' caught her attention and she grinned. Ironhide! She liked hanging out around him when Bee was busy taking Sam or Mikaela around like he was today. Looking at her slightly pained pointer finger she found the tiny wooden splinter's location. After looking around to make sure Ratchet was no where near she bit her finger and managed to pull the splinter, just a bit of skin, out and spat it away. That was done.
"Hi, Ironhide!" She called as she entered his training room. This had happened the passed two days too so he just ignored her. But after her initial greeting, it being her way to alert him to her presence and not turn his cannons on her, she stayed silent and watched him train.
October didn't know about his sour mood today.
Ironhide along with Optimus was in no good of a mood. In a month or so more bot's would be coming to land. While that is normally good news, it is not so much due to his personal relations to one a certain femme that would be arriving. A long time ago they had had a good relationship. Friends then lovers, considering to be spark mates, but when she told him she wished to not have sparklings (even when the war was over for she was much to happy fighting to want to take care of a child) their relationship had turned sour. Breaking up had helped only so much and Ironhide had a deep loathing for her. He liked fighting and training as much as the next bot but he also longed for a sparkling of his own.
Optimus was much the same. But it was the fact he was too busy fighting a war while his love interest wanted to run away, go AWOL and live like that. Knowing that they abandoned their friends and family to death. He had refused and due to her hurt at being denied the pleasure of no more fighting she hurt him in a way that was unforgiveable. She created a bond (while not as strong as a spark bond) with another. The one she bonded with died nearly right after the bonding but the damage and betrayal to Optimus was done.
Now they had word that they would be landing here on Earth soon. No matter the millennia that had passed the hurt and betrayal by the femmes was still there and would always be there. Chromia and Elita-1 had made their choices and they could not be undone. Their other femme friend, Arcee, was still friend with both the mechs and femmes. Neither cared that she was friends with the 'enemy', they all values their friendly relationships too much to care about that. Besides, Arcee was spark bonded with Cliff Jumper. A missing, Cliff Jumper.
But that news, and all of that old pain, was once again new. The news of their arrival, along with a few others, had brought it all back up just a few hours ago. Ironhide was not very partial to the human race. He could see all of the wars they fought against their own and in those wars he saw Cybertron's war. He hated it and thought they were stupid for it. The fleshies were going to kill themselves and their home. he had no home, how could they treat theirs as they do?
With all of the anger, pain, and just plain tiredness, he turned on October. "How many times do I have to tell you, fleshling! Get out! Frag off! Find some other slagger to piss off!" Though he would not shoot her, if not because he did consider her a tolerable fleshy than because of Optimus order, his cannons light up brightly with life and whirred loudly. Ironhide was in one of the worst moods he'd been in since he had gotten here on earth. Even worse than when he had thought Jazz dead, and that had been a right foul mood.
October clenched her hands. Not in anger but in pain. Emotional pain. Bowing her head she skittered away from Ironhide and once in the hall made a mad dash for the hanger where she left her bike. The tears would only stay back for so long and she did not want to look weak in front of any of the bots, let alone Ironhide!
Reaching her bike she held back any sniffles she had wanted to let out and unhooked the carriage she always had. Her bag and everything was always put in there so she could freely ride without being uncomfortable. Now though she left it at the base and tossed her bag into it too. Taking off the guards at the gate opened them for her and she just kept going. None of her normal pleasantries were given to them and immediately the two soured. Who had hurt their friend? For after Jack had been replaced the new guy and Ryan always greeted her and they talked nicely.
October had hoped her bad week, that was now finally catching up to her, would be over soon enough. She had hoped but apparently it was not to be. In her dispair she had biked half a mile passed her house and had to turn around. Then she realized her door was locked, keys left in her bag at the base. The spare key was not where it belonged. Her phone was missing though it was probably hanging out with her keys and bag.
Pissed at herself, feeling like such an idiot and asshole, she kicked her door. Her steel toed boots left a small dent and her toes throbbed. "Fuck!" she cried out and sat down to curl into a ball. Please just let this nightmare end! She begged in her thoughts.
But as far as nightmares go, it wasn't over yet.
Sam's second car, a back up provided to him for if Bee had a mission to go on, screeched to a halt. "Why are you such a bitch about it!" Sam yelled at Mikaela who got out of the passengers side as he got out of the drivers side. "I don't want to wait till next year! I want to do it now and get it over with!"
Mikaela had looked shocked and hurt when he called her a bitch. But as soon as he said something about waiting and next year she had gone so red in the face that even through her own depression of sorts October had to hide a laugh with a cough. Mikaela had reminded her of Tinkerbell from Peter Pan when angry.
That small cough got both new people to look at her. Mikaela gritted her teeth and Sam scowled. Both walked up to her and she froze, looking at them wide eyed. "Pick." Sam said and Mikaela looked like she wanted to stab him.
"She'ls my friend, Sam. The only reason she ever met, let alone spoke, to you was because of me." Mikaela hissed at him and October went wide eyed. This wasn't heading where she thought it was, was it? Please, no, "right, October?"
"Please, all you do is use her. October do this, October do that. She's my friend not yours. Right, October?"
Bitting her tongue she just looked at the two people with wide watery eyes. their bickering started again and the accusations flew 'you made her cry', 'no it was your fault', 'everything is always my fault, isn't it', 'October tell her-', 'October tell him-' 'October-', 'October!'
OCTOBER, OCTOBER, OCTOBER!
Why can't they just shut up! She had nothing to do with this! All she wanted was to be left alone! Couldn't they see that? Just go. The. Fuck. Away! she screamed in her head before running off of her small three step porch, nearly tripping and falling again, and running off.
Her legs carried her back to the base, not knowing where else to go, and the guards let her in without a word. Knowing she was still upset and the choked sobs that forced their way from her burning lungs attested to that. Not knowing where she was going she ended up in an extremely large hanger where the bots recharged in their alt modes due to the construction or rooms going on still. First car she saw she got into.
The large black Topkick had not clicked in her mind as Ironhide. She climbed into the back seat and sobbed. Her breaths were ragged and she used her shirt to wipe snot and tears from her face. This entire situation was upsetting her and she didn't know how to handle it.
Ironhide had realized his words moments after October had left but did nothing about it. He was currently too emotional and to confront her may lead them both to being even more upset. Instead he left to go recharge. He had been in stasis no longer than ten minutes when a human tugged his door open and slammed it shut.
Anger coursed through him, how dare any fleshy touch let alone get in him. Worse, they had hurtfully tugged his door open and caused even more painfully slammed the door shut again. He was going to painfully extract the human if he had to.
Headlights flickered to life and the rays hitting each other caused his holoform to come to life, that isn't how it really happened but more of what it looked like. In front of the Topkick stood a rugged dark haired man with bulging muscles and bright blue eyes that were aflame with anger. Ironhide's holoform walked around his body and his form sank lower. Through the now non tinted windows, he had turned the tinting down to give the human a hint of what was to come, he saw a mass of auburn hair.
October? He questioned within his mind. Curiosity made him loose most of his anger, but the dull throbbing that was caused by the door reminded him she had been non too gentle and needed to be reminded of her place. Besides she should have asked before entering, it was, after all, his body she had climbed into.
Pulling his non hurt door opened he opened his holoforms mouth to yell at her, but his voice dies the moment he saw her puffy red eyes. She leaked lubricants from them along with her nasal passage, a quick three second search provided him with more questions than answers. It seemed she was crying. But there were many types of crying, was she happy, angry, sad?
Had he been the one to make her cry? Alarms shot off in his processor and spark at that thought. Pictures of people crying made him realize she was indeed filled with sorrow and pain. Gently he shut his door after his holoform flickered out. Once against eh windows tinted and the audible sound of his locks clicking shut reached her ears.
"What is wrong, Little Spark?" He asked her through his speakers, not even realizing his nickname for her. "October?" he said again when she was silent.
Her sobs only grew more intense and he stiffened, did he say something? Thinking quickly he remembered the CD she had asked him if he could download for her one day. Of course he had made Jazz do it rather than he but he remembered it. So the soft voice of Ingrid Michelson began to play softly. "I just wanna be ok, be ok, be ok; I just wanna be ok today," the woman's voice called out and Ironhide slid a seatbelt over October.
Guilt from earlier began eating him up. "I'm sorry about earlier, Little Spark," he said the name and knew it felt right.
"I-" October sniffled then took a breath and held the sobs at bay, trying to calm down, "I- sorry about your door. I wasn't thinking." She moved to unbuckle the seatbelt and leave, she didn't want to bother Ironhide with this show of weakness after all.
"Hush, Little Spark, do not worry about it. I hardly felt it. Rest for now, it will be getting dark soon and we have both had a tiring day." He monitored her for a minute before he began to once again shut down his processes.
His audio receptors were the last to go, but he heard her loud and clear, "Thank you, Ironhide."
