you know what's really tragic? fanfiction deletes documents after being inactive for ninety days without chance of recovery so what i had already typed up is lost and i
anyway! i had to reread a lot of things to make sure i try to keep the canon characters in-character ahah. let me know if there's things i should change though! in my opinion, i think sideswipe will be very loyal to the autobots, despite how stubborn he may be. any threat to optimus or them... would he think rationally? i think he would act impulsively, given what i know about him. but? please leave your thoughts otherwise! i'm always open to being wrong haha
oh! if it wouldn't hurt, i'd also appreciate feedback on pacing? i don't want to go too fast, but also... i'm pretty sure it'd be boring to place filler chapters |D
alsooo i kinda wanna change the title of this story. we'll see.
remember, italics are chinese!
Chapter Six
Everyone deserves to relax, whether they're a strange soldier or a stubborn student.
After taking her away from the party, he holds true to his word, and remains carrying her on his shoulder as they walk around campus. It's nighttime, so the normal buzz is the crowd has dimmed down to a minimum. Students still take classes at this time of day, so there's the occasional shuffle of footsteps.
Right now though, Meixing feels like it's only the two of them. Maybe because she can't see anything besides the ground, after tiring herself out from the struggle of freeing her body from his hold.
"You stubborn," Meixing complains for the tenth time. "We been walking for hours."
"Thirty minutes, actually. And I'm the one doing all the walking."
"Do not appreciate your sarcasm."
She huffs, but there's a short pause after that before they both let out their own version of amusement. In Sideswipe's case, he lets out a wholehearted laugh. The more reserved of the two, however, merely exhales softly and shakes her head.
The night wind blows gently against her hair. Shortly after, she recognizes the buildings that surround her dorm and concludes that he must be taking her back to her room at last.
"You've been held hostage for enough times," he says, grinning despite the fact she would not be able to see him. "I'll see you later though, Xiao xing. You owe me more of that story."
She arches an eyebrow. "Told you everything about it." Then she pauses. Wait, she really had, hadn't she? After she had promised to keep it a secret that night... but she owed Sideswipe a debt. Fortunately, he seems to be trustworthy enough. Scratch the fact she said she would tell him little by little... oh well.
"Well, not everything. I wanna know your story," he laughs, as if it is natural of him to do so. "Gotta get to know your friends more, right?" An excuse. He needs to know how much she knows about the Autobots and whether or not they were compromised. Plus, if he kept an eye on her, he could prevent her from making any more contact with Leo. It's risky to let them interact. Leo is the type to cave into pressure, and Meixing excels in giving that pressure.
"... I see. That only be polite." And so she digresses. The friends she has are classmates that she studies with and works together with on projects. There's a certain distance between them. It's not like she is incapable of being sociable when necessary, but aside from school, there's nothing in common that she shares with them. How can anyone be friends with someone with whom they don't share likeness with?
Wait, if that's the case, what does she have in common with Sideswipe?
"Absolutely nothing," she mutters crossly to herself. Sideswipe makes a questioning sound, which she dismisses right away. "Nothing. Just put me down now."
He complies. The petite Asian pats her shirt to clear it of the wrinkles, eyebrows creased into a light frown.
"Then, I'll see you tomorrow." He gives her a salute with two fingers, turning on his heel without waiting for her response.
"Wait, Sideswipe." Meixing stands firmly, gripping her arm with a hand as she coughs to get more of his attention. The taller male stops in his track, turning his head to give her a questioning back-glance.
Her lips are pressed firmly together, but tentatively, they slowly part in order to express words that she would normally have trouble saying. "Thank you."
Sideswipe blinks in confusion, and he turns so that he's facing her wholly now. "What did I —"
"Taking me away from party," she cuts in quickly. "And... for promising to keep secret. Good night."
She tilts her head forehead in a brief bow before scrambling to unlock the door. When Sideswipe finally snaps out of his stupor, the door is slammed behind her.
He laughs, lifting his arms and interlacing his hands behind his neck. "Looks like you know your manners after all." He deserves that praise though! After all, enduring the presence of all these humans and saving her twofold now? He certainly should be awarded with a vacation after Bumblebee returned to take up his guardianship duty again.
Electric blue hues shine with amusement as he allows his holoform to dissipate, turning his attention towards the dorm where Sam lives in. At least, despite being given this boring duty, he has something to entertain himself with. This is his first mission for scouting information in decades; while he normally avoids those types of missions, lack of heavy Decepticon activity as of late causes him to be eager for almost anything nowadays. He misses battle... but he knows the Autobots are enjoying this peace.
No matter how temporary it may be.
"My eye hurts," Meixing sighs, firmly placing a hand over her right eye. "Hasn't been this bad in while." Is it because of the sunlight that woke her up? That's the most plausible explanation, given that it doesn't seem like this pain is from having a headache.
Brown hues survey the room, landing on Rachie, who's still asleep. Meixing squints at the container on the counter, a note from her roommate saying that this is her form of apology.
"... Words would have been enough," she mutters. "Don't like sweets anyway." But after freshening up for the morning, she slips the container inside her bag and makes her way outside, shutting the door quietly after her.
She needs to do her work, but the library is closed today. After wandering around the campus, there's sanctuary in empty tables surrounding the pond. Although it is windy today, she settles in a place under the canopy of a large tree. The shade is a solace from the sun that's sure to bake any poor soul under it today.
Spreading her papers out, she makes sure that each stack has their own paperweight before starting on her work. It'd do herself some good if she got most of it done today, so that she can spend the rest of her weekend preparing for the upcoming material. Working ahead has never been her strong suite, but class goes by more smoothly if she has questions prepared for the professor instead of scrambling around to find the answers she needed after the lecture is given.
"Let's see..." By herself, it's comforting to speak in her native tongue. "I should finish my draft for the chemistry lab procedure. Then I can finish the textbook problems for statistics." She rubs her eyes, grumbling in irritation at the faintly throbbing pain. "And maybe get some medicine for this again."
A battle plan settled, the Chinese woman crackles her knuckles and sets to work.
The campus isn't quiet, but she's able to work efficiently, not minding the occasional hustle of students. Most of everyone would be going outside of campus for day, but it's night when it gets busy. She should be able to get done before the majority of the student body returns.
However, her phone buzzes and she sits up straight in surprise. How many hours has passed since she came to this spot? Checking her phone, there's a single missed call from Sideswipe.
Ah. Right, he wanted to meet with her. Well... she didn't exactly promise him it would be the next day, right? Before she can call him back, however, someone plops into one of the chairs at the table and she snaps her gaze up immediately.
"You're cold, Meixing." He nonchalantly picks up one of her textbooks, looking over it curiously. "Not even picking up my call, after I put in the effort to contact you."
She arches an eyebrow. At least his attitude hasn't changed. Yet what's strange... is that there's someone else accompanying him too. How did he even find her in the first place?
"Come on, Sides! I told you I need to go out to the airport to pick up Mikaela!"
"Take a bus. A taxi. There's lots of ways for you guys to get around."
"You're my guardian. Excuse you." A frown creases on his face. "What if something happens to me?"
"Temporary guardian. I don't like humans riding in my car if the situation isn't life-threatening to them." He sighs. "There's no signatures and we haven't had an attack in months. You'll be fine. If the worst uncannily happens, you know I can get to you in less than five minutes. Fastest car."
"You stubborn Auto —" The familiar face stops speaking when he notices Meixing in his peripheral vision. "I mean. Stubborn friend."
"He is," Meixing agrees readily, to which Sideswipe frowns and places the textbook back on the table.
"I don't need you two doubleteaming on me," he grumbles.
Sam seems surprised, but nonetheless, he forces out a grin to the other. "Hey. Haven't seen you since... well."
"Mhn. Sorry," she says genuinely. "I am better now. Though I still have some questions..."
Sam coughs into his sleeve. "Anyway, Sideswipe! You have to take me to the airport! Come on!"
The other male is glowering. "I have business to do here." Jabbing a thumb at Meixing, who decided to return to her work and thus doesn't notice the gesture, Sideswipe gives Sam an unamused stare. He mouths the word 'information' to the human male, who seems to stiffen up in apprehension.
'She knows?' Sam mouths back, cautiously glancing to the studying Asian female. 'I mean, Leo and I figured she knew, but we didn't know how much.'
'Exactly. I need to find out how dangerous it is.' Sideswipe looks like he's won. 'So, go on.'
There's a short pause, but then Sam says something that the Autobot definitely did not expect.
"She can come with us!"
Sideswipe nearly disappears in shock.
"Are you out of your fragging —" He's up from his seat in an instant, hands reaching out for Sam and firmly grabbing his collar. Although Sam pales considerably, he does not relent.
"I'm a poor college student," Sam states bluntly. "You're a free ride. We can kill two birds with one stone."
"No need," Meixing responds, waving off the two casually. "First off, don't know you two well. Second, have work to do."
"Fair enough," Sam agrees. "But have you seen how nice his car is?"
Sideswipe doesn't care what this person says. Even if he also agrees he chose the most superior alternate form of all the Autobots. They're not going to hitch a ride from him unless their lives counted on it. He lets go of Sam's collar, but not without giving him a light shove in the end.
"The one that almost ran me over," she nods. "Seen it. Seems very expensive."
"It is," Sam smiles. "Don't you want to see the inside?"
"No." Sideswipe and Meixing chime in simultaneously, but for different reasons. Regardless, Sam winces and hangs his head in defeat.
"Fine. Just give me that credit card that all you guys are issued, and I'll be on my merry way."
It's not like he would use it otherwise. Sideswipe nods and hands it off to the brunet, who drags his feet as he walks away.
"You not very nice to your friend," Meixing comments.
"I'm not nice in general," he scoffs. "No wait, he isn't even my fr—"
"Not true. You a good person."
"Go on." Yes, inflate his ego more than it needed to be already.
"Sometimes."
"You're a killjoy, Xiao xing." Sideswipe settles back in the chair, observing her as she does her work diligently. "Don't you ever get tired of paperwork?"
"No. This is what I good at." Her sigh is soft. "Regardless, did not think you would find me. I told you there nothing more to share about story."
"I have more questions though," he points out. "You may claim that you've shared everything... but maybe there's more that you didn't realize you withheld." The skeptical look she gives him shows that she didn't buy his story. "Like... how do you know where to look for it?"
He confirmed yesterday she was looking for him, after all. He knows the reasons... but there's no way trying to be grateful could lead her so closely to where they were now.
Meixing puts her pencil down. "It spoke English."
"There are more countries than the United States that speak English."
That is fair. Relenting, the Chinese woman relaxes her posture and stares back at the other. "That night... I saw American flag symbol. Not from savior, of course, but..."
She's hesitating again.
"You can trust me, Xiao xing. Remember, I'm not going to tell anyone." A half-hearted promise, in any case. This would be included in his report to Optimus, for certain, but what she doesn't know wouldn't hurt her.
"It was on parachute with weird symbol." Meixing smiles. "The one that flew from its friend, I think. It was taller than savior. I could tell, especially when it appeared from sky."
Sideswipe deflates visibly, sinking into his chair in disbelief. She saw Optimus too, and the parachutes that they all used that day had the Autobot insignia etched into it. She wasn't even dismissing it as a trick of her mind, like many of the Shanghai citizens did that night. The government in China had done well in covering up the incident... or so they thought. Sideswipe had heard that two years back, when the Autobots faced off against Megatron for the first time in centuries, there were many spectators involved in that city. The government had a great hand in concealing details of the incident later, by brainwashing those who saw the Cybertronians or buying the silence (along with threats) of those the brainwashing did not work on.
Yet here this person was. She had seen everything, spilling it to someone who she seemingly trusted. If her government knew about her, they should've kept an eye on her consistently, or else she never would've been allowed to come this far anyway.
"You need to come with me," Sideswipe says harshly. Meixing isn't given a chance to react as he lashes out and grips her wrist firmly, dragging her out from her seat none-too-gently.
"Sides?" She yelps, wincing visibly as she stumbles forward. Fortunately, his grip is like iron so she doesn't faceplant the ground, but she loses her standing and scrapes her knees against the grass. "That hurt! What was —"
"I don't believe you. Humans are naturally greedy creatures." His grip tightens further. "Always acting of their own accord. You saw that much and you mean to say you haven't told anyone aside from me?" His lips pull back in a snarl and he crouches down, meeting her gaze with burning blue fire. "You came here to expose us. Your government failed to erase your memories, so you thought this place would be an easy target. Admit it."
It has to be true. There's no way she would have kept all this information to herself otherwise so far. He's right. He's absolutely correct, he has to be.
And yet when she pulls his gaze to meet his, her brown hues are full of fear and confusion. Her petite frame is trembling from head to toe, and once again, Sideswipe is made aware of just how small she is in comparison to himself. He glances at the wrist he's holding. Dark purple marks are seeping out from what his hand is covering, and slowly, he lets go to reveal the bruise that's forming on her thin wrist.
"... I don't know what you are trying to do," she speaks with tremor in her voice. It takes everything she has to keep it steady from that point. "You're accusing me of tricking you? How dare you. I told you before, the only thing Leo knows is that I want to find my savior. You were the only one who I shared this story with, because you seemed earnest and trustworthy." She pulls her wrist back, cradling it to her chest. "I never told anyone else. Are you trying to say that I would expose my savior for money to the world? Or that I ran away from my government because I want the glory to myself?" Her voice chokes, and Sideswipe's animosity has long since faded to that of penitence.
"I'm sorry, if I hurt you. I'm sorry for whatever I did." She rises to her feet, tears welling in her eyes as she moves to the table and starts to shove her things inside her bag. "I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you doubt me like that. It won't happen again. You are the first and last person I will have told this story to. Please be rest assured, do not be worried about your government, as a soldier. This is the last you will certainly hear from me. If you will excuse me, I will finish my work elsewhere. Goodbye."
Trusting people is always difficult, in the end.
Her steps are swift as she hastens her pace to a sprint.
The sun certainly is harsh for that afternoon.