Special thanks to KarinyStormsong, Stormlight, FluffyPrime, JessieBWriting, Guest, Steelcode, inmemoryofblue, SangoMarie, and SummerMistedDragon for the reviews. And if you came back to keep reading thanks.
This ones more of a filler than anything, sorry.
Shoutout to Guest for catching that some of the chapter got left out, my files got jumbled up and I accidentally uploaded the wrong version of this file to Doc Manager
Chapter Thirty Four – Don't Really Do Heights
The TV mounted on the wall played a scene from some television series that J.J commonly watched, called The Walking Dead he believed, the volume lowered to almost perfectly silent. The curtains that were hanging around the window were pulled open, and the only light coming from outside was the reflection of the moon, and a blinking light coming from a buoy that was about fifty feet out. To be fair, though, he couldn't have cared less about any of it – not the way the buoy - that told ships when to stop moving lest they come too close – was almost tipping over every few second, nor the way the humans on the TV screen slashed at undead beings that were lunging for them. He didn't care about the slight sounds that he could hear coming from the tar mac through the glass, or the scuffing of boots outside the door, just in the hall despite it being late – later than curfew for the new recruits, anyways.
No, all he found himself caring about to any extent or degree was the small human laying before him, her back tucked up against his torso as she slept soundly along the couch. The two Greyhounds that took residence up in the apartment unit were laying in their bed, but he didn't miss the way the brown one – if he could remember correctly, Atari – watched him with a stink eye, analyzing every move he made on the off chance that he make the wrong one towards J.J.
They'd spent a while, but not long enough for either of them, tangled up in one another in the kitchen, neither of them willing to pull apart until Optimus remembered that, though he didn't, humans did eventually have to rest; once he pulled back, however, it became quite obvious that Jess wasn't interested in resting.
"What…" she trailed off for a moment as she panted, trying to regain her breath, "What does this mean? What are we supposed to be?"
He smirked. "Whatever you want us to be. I'll give you complete control over this dynamic, and we'll take it at your pace. All I want is for you to be happy."
Her heart squeezed at the sentence, the butterflies in her stomach taking off in flight for a short moment.
"How about we take it slow? I don't want this getting too public, and I don't want to move fast and ruin this."
He nodded, his neon blue eyes staring into hers. "Whatever you want."
The two moved their way to the couch, where they filled the rest of the night with more kissing until it became clear to him that she was tired and needed REM sleep, even if she wasn't willing to separate from him yet. He reminded her of the human requirement, but she begged him not to leave, to stay for just a little longer because she didn't want him to go yet. He promised that he would stay so long as she began to fall asleep. And thus, their current predicament.
He lay with his back pressed to the couch cushions, her back pushed into his chest, with his arm draped across her waist. She had one arm laying parallel with his across herself, and the other arm was laying straight out towards the table. Her breathing, coming from her two slightly separated lips, was deep and even, her eyes flicking back and forth slowly as she slept.
He wondered what she was seeing behind her eyelids.
He looked up as the TV screen suddenly went black, leaving only his eyes as a source of bright light. The screen had gone black, and then four numbers popped up in white writing.
01:57:24.
Almost two in the morning. He knew he should probably leave, probably put her in her bed and tuck her in, make sure her alarm was on for the morning, ensure that the doors were locked, and let the holoform go. He should make his way back to his quarters, and sleep for the little time he had left to do so.
But, for the first time in a while, he didn't feel required to stay awake, which he had for quite a while down on this planet due to complete any kind of work that was necessary and in need of being completed. No, he didn't feel required to stay awake, he wanted to stay awake. He didn't want to move from where he was laying, right here on the couch, with his arms around her, the small little human of his affections tucked against his own holoform as she slumbered peacefully along.
She was absolutely perfect to him. She had a slight amount of baby fat still clinging on to her jawline and cheek bones, but it was slimming, and when he compared her cheekbones from the first day she showed up to now, there was definitely a difference – a stark reminder that she may be an adult, but she was still young, her body still forming and growing, and that she was still much younger than him – but it didn't change the shape of her face none the less; she had two full lips, her top lip only slightly smaller than her bottom lip, which complimented her nose, a small nose with a straight edge that, if he had to pick a direction it moved towards, curved upwards only faintly, so little that you wouldn't be able to see unless you were looking for it. Her eyelids were lined with long, full eyelashes that came out as an almost blonde colour that, as they got longer, turned dark brown. Her hairline came down and, much like the entire shape of her face in general, fell in a heart shape.
Much to his shock, her hands were free of any dirt or grease, showing off the intricate lines, the delicate ink, the black and red and gold that made up the tattoo which ran along her arm, starting on the top of her shoulder, right next to her collarbone, and all the way down that arm until it reached her first set of knuckles that connected her fingers to her palm. It twisted around her skin, the little details now incredibly clear on the clean skin, with two smaller dragons dancing around the biggest one, the one that was the main focus. He ran a finger over the largest dragon ever so slightly, just enough to make her elbow twitch slightly at the touch.
Unfortunately though, he did need to recharge.
He managed to get out from behind her, and reached down to scoop her up into his arms. She seemed to stiffen slightly, and made a moaning sound as she licked her lips, the moaning sound coming out in some kind of question that couldn't be made out.
He chuckled softly. "You're alright, we're just going to bed."
She relaxed again as he tucked her into bed, re-entering REM sleep as she cuddled further into the pillows and blanket, before he proceeded to leave the bedroom door open. He walked to the front door, ensuring it was locked and nobody would be able to get it in.
The black and white dog, Olly, got up, stretching his front legs out with a groan before he stood at full height and walked towards him lazily, his tail wagging behind him slowly. He walked up and smelled Optimus's hand softly, then sneezed and turned and headed into the bedroom Optimus had just walked out of. He watched the dog disappear around the corner, then turned and made eye contact with the other one, the brown dog. She was still laying on the dog bed, still stiffened in her stature, but her eyes flicked from him and his form to the bedroom that her brother had just entered.
"Go on." He said, motioned for the dog to head in that direction.
The dog checked him out, her ears pulled back in an anxious look, then stood slowly, and walked around the far side of the couch. She took the long way through the kitchen and crossed the hall, but before she could enter the bedroom she stopped and turned her head to look at him.
Optimus smiled softly – he could admire the dog's apprehension of him, her distrust of him around her human. Her goal was to ensure he wouldn't hurt Jess, or her brother, or herself, and now there was this new piece in their dynamic, this new person whom she didn't know; he would have to prove himself to her, she wouldn't just assumed that he was okay. She huffed, then turned her head and walked into the bedroom, and the sound of the dog tags jingling off her collar rang out, indicating she'd gotten on the bed.
He crossed the room and turned the TV off, flicking the lamp light off as well, moving the blanket from the floor on to the back of the couch. He looked around the room to make sure that the room was clean, and then moved his attention to his HUD, flicking the holoform off, and leaving the housing unit one person emptier.
X0X0X0X0X0
A marching line of Boots stopped moving suddenly, their feet stomping on the ground in unison as they halted, causing the drill sergeant in charge of them to rage. Before he could actually say anything, however, the sound of oversized tires approaching them pulled his eyes that way to see a dark gray vehicle coming towards them. It zipped past them, revealing that it was, in fact, the Jeep Wrangler than he knew the base mechanic had brought over. As soon as it passed them, before he could yell at his troops to continue on, they began marching once again.
Inside the vehicle, a black and white Greyhound stuck his head out of the window as the wind whipped through his ears, around his lips, across his nose. The human sitting in the seat beside him laughed at him for a moment before refocusing her own attention onto the tar mac ahead of her, making sure that nobody failed to stop or see her coming. Her record for hitting or coming close to hitting someone while in her Jeep was as zero, and she intended to keep it that way.
The building of her destination came up on her closer than she was expecting – of course it did, part of her was hoping it never showed up in her vision so obviously they approached it faster – and soon enough she was parking the Jeep right outside the hangar. She slipped her keys into her pocket as she hopped out, the two greyhounds following behind her closely; if things went the way she was fearing, she was going to need their emotional support a lot.
The inside of the hangar was quiet, which was common for this hangar but the weirdest occurrence ever for this island – to have a building that isn't bustling or full of people to the point where you questioned if they were over capacity or not.
The hallways, built to be a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty feet, tall echoed every foot step she took off its walls, every clinging of dog tags together as Olly trotted out in front of them with his nose to the floor. She watched as he took off suddenly down the hall, his massive hind legs pushing him into a sprint so fast you couldn't follow his feet with your bare eyes. For maybe ten seconds he ran, crossing sixty feet, seventy feet, eighty feet, all in seconds, seeming to race something that she couldn't spot before he disappeared around the corner. Before she could call his name, or even get worried that he'd latched onto a scent and wasn't going to stop until he got his paws on it, he came flying back around the corner and about one and a half seconds after that the sound of tires squealing resonated out as a silver Corvette came fishtailing around the wall, right behind him. Bright LED headlights glared down at J.J in the face as he came speeding towards her. Once the Autobot in question realised how quickly he was approaching the little human, his Prime's own sparkmate, he smashed on his brakes and the thick rubber screamed as it slid along the cement.
She watched as he realised he wouldn't be able to stop before he would make contact with her so instead he began transforming up, throwing himself into the air by his arms. She craned her neck to watch as he somersaulted in a flip over her body, his body turning and twisting before he landed on his wheeled-feet, rolling around the floor as turned himself around to look towards her.
Olly had been running so fast that he couldn't slow down by the time he reached J.J's position, but he turned in a circle around the hall as he finally managed to slow down and headed back towards her. Atari whined at him, her ears pulled back anxiously, and he licked the side of her face as he trotted up before breaking down to a stop.
"Hey J.J, what are you doing in here?" he asked.
"I'm, uh, I'm comin' to see Optimus." She answered.
He smiled wide, but refrained from teasing her lest it end up with her leaving instead. "Oh yeah? Well, I won't hold you up. Down this hall, take the next left, then the first right, second door down the righthand side."
She nodded. "Thanks. And thanks for not crushing me."
"Only for you, Jay. I'll see you around."
She turned and followed his instructions as he transformed down and sped off, and found herself in front of this giant, way oversized door – to be fair, everything in this hangar was oversized. She raised a clenched fist, her heart pounding, and knocked on the door loudly.
Olly huffed as he sat beside her foot, and it took about five or six seconds before the door slid open in front of her with a deep groan as the mechanisms worked to move the heavy metal out of the way. J.J slid in between a human sized gap between the door and the wall as it continued to open.
"Hello?"
A kaleidoscope of butterflies, and absolute army of them, exploded in the pit of J.J's stomach as Optimus spoke up, seemingly confused at the lack of Cybertronian presence at the door as it opened completely, revealing an empty space.
"Uh… Captain?" she called out, standing in front of his oversized desk.
The sound of joints whirring brought her eyes upward as Optimus stood, placing his fists on the desk gently, and pushed his weight into the metal as he leaned forward and peeked over the edge of the desk. They locked eyes, and he tilted his head slightly, narrowing his eyes.
"J.J? What are you doing here?"
"Um, gimme a sec."
She walked underneath his desk, crossing the space between where she stood and where his left foot was pressed into the ground. He craned her neck upwards again to try and connect their eyes, but something shimmered in front of her suddenly and his holoform materialized.
Her eyebrows drew together as a chill went down her spine. "Oh that is weird. Sorry."
A chuckle came from his chest. "Then hang on for a moment."
The holoform, as fast as it popped into existent, dissolved in to thin air, the only hints that it had been there being a weird cloud of haze and static. Optimus's bipedal form kneeled down suddenly, and turned his palm up towards the roof as an invitation.
"Up you get."
"Up-Up there?" she asked, her eyes flicking towards the top of the desk. "I, um, I don't really do heights."
His face remained monotone as he blinked slowly, "J.J, there isn't really any other way for us to communicate properly. You can barely see my face from the ground."
She gulped, hoping it would melt the knot in her throat.
"O-O-Okay. Yeah, you're right, this isn't the proper way to hold a conversation." she nodded.
He noticed from behind his HUD as Jess's heart rate sped up, her breathing quickened, and her movements became flighty, making his head tilt slightly.
"Is everything alright? You seem nervous." he mentioned.
She licked her lips again, "No, I'll be fine, I just... I don't do heights."
He smiled softly, kneeling to get down on one knee and bring his face closer to her. "I can't promise that you'll never fall, but I can promise you one thing."
Again, her heart rate picked up, her body's reaction to the fear that she no doubt felt in that moment.
"And what's that?"
He smiled softly, "There may be days where you fall, and days where you do not, but there will never be a day where I don't catch you. And that is a promise."
FIN
Date Started: December 10, 2020
Date Finished: December 16, 2020
Last Edited: December 16, 2020