"How on Cybertron do you tie a tie?" Ironhide's holoform grumbled as he fumbled around with the long clothing article. "Is it truly a human tradition for this?"

I laughed softly, stopping him in his tracks. "Here, let me do it. I used to tie Dad's ties all the time, along with half the guys in choir." I quickly undid what he had done as an attempt to tie it, and started to work on it. In less than ten seconds, I had it all tied neatly. "And then you slide it up to adjust it..." I showed him how to adjust it slowly. "And when you're done, you stick the thinnest under part thingy into this loop so it doesn't show. Neat, huh?"

He only chuckled, nodding. "I guess so." He then proceeded to yawn, though it didn't sound like a yawn. His hand went to cover his mouth, before slowly slipping around my shoulders. He pulled me closer.

I raised an eyebrow, then lowered it. We were the Cybertronian version of 'married'. He felt nervous through the bond. I decided to quickly let it just slide for now. Because of the bond, and everything, we would probably get much closer than even this.

What a weird thought that was.

The both of us walked into the room that my uncle had earlier told us to be. Right in the middle, sitting at a small table with a white tablecloth, were Riley and Joshua. I could almost feel Ironhide's disgust overflowing in the bond.

I pinched his side, not hard enough to create too much pain, but enough that he got the message. At least, I hoped he got the message.

"Hello, Jessica!" Joshua called happily, waving at me. He was the same soldier that at one point had showed me the rec center when I was lost. He seemed to be a very friendly guy. "Can you guess what we are having tonight?"

The table they were sitting at held a bowl and a few plates. There were napkins beside the plates, which were clean (the plates) and then on the napkins were chopsticks.

Damn. Chopsticks.

"Asian food...?" I guessed slowly, walking over to them. I didn't want to say Chinese food in case it would sound even a little bit racist. Riley, as far as I could tell, was Asian.

{Is that racist?} Ironhide asked.

I held back a snicker. {I don't believe so.}

Riley gave us both a small smile. "It is Chinese food, imported from a factory in America."

The light blonde man next to him nodded. Joshua's hair looked a bit messy, though on purpose. It was probably just a guy thing. "Panda Express gives us food sometimes. Gift to the military. We even got some of their recipes."

I smiled. My parents used to always take me to that restaurant if we could and if we had enough money. I would always go there and get the orange chicken, lo mein, and teriyaki chicken. They had this amazing sauce that went with the teriyaki chicken that was absolutely delicious. And their orange chicken was good too.

All the memories I had were almost all in that restaurant. Birthdays. Celebrations. It was just a fast food joint, but it was still meaningful.

Meaning can be put into anything, really.

Except for damn chopsticks. I can't use those correctly. There were no forks. Where are the forks?

Ironhide removed his arm from around me, Joshua happened to wink at me when he noticed, and pulled out my chair. I didn't expect a Cybertronian to know proper manners or etiquette for humans. Maybe he researched?

Either way, I thanked him with a kiss on the cheek. He sat down next to me, and though it was subtle, I swore it was on purpose, he pressed his knee to mine. A tingling feeling passed through my body.

He must have felt it to. His head tilted to the side ever so slightly, but he didn't say anything.

Riley was the first to break the silence. "So, have you two had sex yet?" His voice was so casual. It almost made me nauseous.

Why would I discuss my nonexistent sex life with him? Nothing against him, but-

"Excuse me?" Ironhide asked in a threatening tone. "Want to run that by me again?"

Riley opened his mouth to repeat it, but then flinched. Joshua gave him a look that clearly said something along the lines of 'not now' and Riley just nodded.

Ironhide internally snorted. {You see?}

{See what?}

{Riley. I knew there was something odd about him. The World Wide Web says that signs of Autism include unable to understand sarcasm, and weird eye contact. Specifically signs for Aspergers.}

I gave Riley another look. Sure enough, he seemed to be very fixated on some object that didn't have anything to do with us or even Joshua. He was staring off into the distance, likely something on the wall or something.

Amusement freely flowed through the bond. {Obsession on certain objects is another one. Not good eye contact. Need I go on?}

Humming, I replied {I think you're just being rude and judgemental. What sort of disorder does the World Wide Web believe I have?}

A few seconds went by before he said {You have BHD.}

{What's that?}

{Beautiful Human Disorder} The grin on his face was very much there. It made him look happy. More than happy. {Or Bonded Human Syndrome.}

I tapped my knee against his, the tips of my cheeks heating up. {Thanks...?}

"Did you know that the 1967 Shelby Mustangs used Mercury Cougar tail lamps, but the 1968 models used lamps from the '66 Ford Thunderbird?" Riley suddenly said, not looking at any of us.

The thought of a Ford, any sort of Ford, make me almost nauseous. "I'm not a huge fan of Ford. I'm more of a Chevy gal."

"Or GMC?" Ironhide tilted his head.

That was when I remembered his altmode was a GMC. "Yes, and GMC."

The brown haired man frowned. It was only then did I notice something odd about his facial features. On a guy's, or girl's, upper lip, right below the nose, there's usually a little indent thing. But under his nose, on his upper lip, there was nothing. That was a result of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Then he decided to continue and talk some more. "Well.. Did you know that in 1983, there was no production of a Chevy Corvette? The last third generation one was made in 1982, and the new 1984 Corvette was a brand new model that looked nothing like the old one. All prototypes for the 1983 model were destroyed, except for one that resides in a California bowling alley."

I smiled at him. "You sure do know a lot about cars."

{Maybe he's a car technician in disguise. Oh wait. Probably not} Ironhide snickered. He was totally and completely dissing Riley, and Riley had no clue.

That was just so low.

Riley grinned brightly at me. "I do! I love cars."

{You better shut your... Mind. Or stop speaking about it to me. We're here to have a good time and get to know each other.}

{You're not doing much to get to know me.} he pointed out.

I sighed. {And whose fault is that? The mech who is making fun of the poor man across from us?}

Ironhide huffed.

"So, what else do you know about cars?" I asked him.

Before Riley could reply, Joshua butted in. "We both shared our first kiss in one!"

Ironhide's jaw dropped.