By Fang Wolfsbane

"Okay, so I think I might have an idea," Zett said as he pushed a row of papers from one of his school notebooks across the old wooden table set in front of Starlit. He had taken to calling it their 'strategy table', something the Cybertronian had chuckled at, but he didn't care. He was glad to see her smile.

Most would have found it funny that he was trying to get a giant robot to show emotion, but as Starlit had so gently reminded him on more than one occasion, she wasn't a simple robot. She was a being with emotion, thinking capability and expressionistic when she wanted to be.

He figured her smiling around him meant that she felt comfortable enough to show at least that level of expression around him. Her smile didn't feel like it was forced around him, not like the smiles his family and fellow students gave him when he passed by. Those were obligated smiles. This one was genuine.

"Yeah?" Starlit hummed from her spot leaning against the wall. Her energon level had dropped thanks to her little excursion without him the other day, but he found himself unable to get annoyed by it. Spending days cooped up in a garage with no idea what was happening on the outside? It was enough to make anyone – or bot – nervous enough to want to get out once in a while, especially on a technical alien planet.

He liked spending time indoors and away from large crowds, but even he needed to taste some fresh air once in a while, that and his job required him to physically take a step out of the house.

The thought of pushing her to ask the Autobots for help had been a pressing issue considering how the femme's frame was reacting to its low energon intake but something he had learned about the femme within their first week together was to definitely not push her into a corner.

She hadn't gotten violent with him, at least not to the degree that would physically cause him harm, but her tone of voice had suggested that she wouldn't hesitate to leave if he were deemed a possible threat to her. He wondered if she still felt the same way but kept his thoughts to himself. She had stayed despite threatening to leave. That had to mean something, didn't it?

"Mhm. Thanks to the principal pulling some strings, and… a few other people, our grade is taking a field trip to the Autobot base next week."

That got the femme's attention, judging from how fast she nearly slammed herself away from the wall. Her tone made her surprise quite clear. "What?"

"You heard me," Zett said, finding a grin on his face the moment he saw the femme's surprise showing clear on her face. "I'll be able to go to the Autobot base and with any luck, get you some of that energon stuff you need."

The way she looked at him, he was certain that she was going to grab and swing him around like he was some doll in a human girl's hand, praising and thanking him for his help, but what happened instead was something he hadn't been expecting whatsoever.

"No."

His face must have fallen judging by the glare she seemed to give him from behind that big red visor of hers. He had thought of asking her once if she had anything behind them or if she could see without the visor's help but considering that she hadn't taken it off in front of him, he hadn't pushed the subject.

He knew humans with glasses were usually sensitive when it came to matters discussing their eyes, so he figured her situation to be the same. The thought of blind Cybertronians existing was an intriguing thought but was probably just as invasive as it would be asking a human with glasses the same thing, so he kept quiet about it.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"Exactly what I said. No."

"Why? If it can help-"

"It's too dangerous."

That caught him by enough surprise that he thought he had forgotten how to form words, snapping free from his thoughts. "How can it be dangerous? They're your allies, aren't they?"

The glare she seemed to have beneath her visor intensified to the point that Zett felt his feet instinctively back away. He trusted her enough to know that she wouldn't attack him. She wouldn't. Not her.

The way she leaned back against the wall told him all he needed to know. She was done hearing of his plans before he even had the opportunity to tell the whole story he had in mind.

He sighed, looking back at the rough sketches he had drawn up based on what he overheard one of the kids that had snuck into the base before tell one of their friends. The layout had seemed simple enough, but then again they were alien robots. Their base couldn't be that easy to access, which was why he had originally been surprised when his teacher told the class about the upcoming fieldtrip in the first place.

'A show of comradery to strengthen human-Cybertronian relations' had been the official reason the teacher gave them. Most of the students had been so excited about the possibility of seeing the base that they hadn't thought twice about questioning it. He on the other hand had felt an uneasy twist in his stomach.

"Starlit-"

"I told you no. Get that through your head already," she said, turning her head away from him. A thought to retort crossed his mind but he kept it to himself. Instead, he grabbed the papers and turned to leave the room.

He knew asking her to go along with it was a long shot from the beginning, but he had at least thought that she would have heard him out about it. Before he left the room, he paused to look back at her, but she hadn't done the same.

Without another word, he closed the door and headed towards his bedroom. No one but him and Starlit were home, so he could turn his tape player as loud as it could go and not have to worry about anyone complaining about the noise.

One thing he had noticed that both he and the femme had in common was their interest in music. He hadn't gotten the chance to introduce her to a variety of it, but from what he had played for her, she had expressed interest in, but right now he didn't feel the need to share the sound with her.

Grabbing a set of earphones, he connected them to the player, his thumb caressing over the play button as he looked to the papers in his fist. He knew he shouldn't push her about the subject, but the fact still remained that without that energon… He shut his eyes, trying to keep the thought from his mind.

T he crumpling of the paper in his hand was the only sound he heard as he opened his eyes and glared straight at the reflection the mirror gave him. If he lost her, then he would lose the only friend he ever had.

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