"How was school today?"

Prowl's question was meant to go unanswered. Usually, Pixie just shrugged and sipped her evening cube silently, but tonight was not like any other night.

Pixie talked more in that one groon and she'd talked in her whole life - from Helios to Rhea and back again. Prowl just sat there, optics wide as Pixie chatted. When Jazz stepped in, he was just as shocked as Prowl was. Whatever had gotten into their little femme?

Before either Prowl or Jazz could get in a word, Pixie popped a question they'd never even thought to consider before.

"Can Rhe come ova? Pwease?"

Jazz looked over at Prowl, Prowl looking back at him.

[[What do weh do? What if da femme figures us out? She can't come ova.]]

[[But Jazz, this is the first friend Pixie has make since she was a youngling. We have to support this. We don't want her to be depressed anymore, do we?]]

Jazz thought about what Prowl was saying as he looked at Pixie. He hadn't seen this kind of happiness in her in years. Maybe they had to take a chance.

"Sire? Carrier? Pwease?" Pixie begged. Jazz exhaled slowly.

"Ya can invite 'er ova, okah?" Pixie lit right up.

"YES! Yes!" Pixie jumped up from her seat and raced back to her room, eager to make it clean for the first time in years for her friend.

Pixie made sure her very special guest felt at home; she bounced in her step, eager to show her to her room and the places Rhea was allowed to roam in her house. Upon first introductions, Jazz was nearly stiff, still uncertain about having the femme coming over and possibly discovering who they really were. It wasn't until Prowl passed him an assuring wave through their bond that everything was going to be alright did he loosen up.

Jazz watched Pixie tug Rhea enthusiastically to her room and he gave a soft sigh. "Neva did Ay think Ay was gonna see 'er so happeh."

Prowl smiled gently, taking his mate's servo and raising it to his lips, a tender kiss placed on his dark knuckles. Prowl spoke with a whisper low enough for Jazz to catch. "With time, babe. Now we have to hope Rhea doesn't ever find out our secret."

Jazz nodded.

Pixie showed her new friend her room, enjoying the rush in her spark as warmth overpowered the naturally grown coldness. Rhea marveled at the size of the room, envious that hers was smaller. "Well, then again," Rhea stated. "You're an only child."

Pixie's wings gave an unseen flicker. "Yeah."

Rhea skipped over to Pixie's lounge chair, plopping gracefully onto it. "Where's your berth?"

"Yer sittin' on et." Pixie's reply came smoothly. "Berths aren't mah thang. Made mah wings feel squished."

"Oh. They make berths for winged bots though."

"Lounge chairs are so much bettah. More cushion. An' Ay don' share mah recharge spot so..."

Rhea giggled. "Not even a quickie?"

Pixie's visor flickered as she blinked. "Um... no? Mah rep at dat school sucks."

Rhea rolled her optics. "Right. That dreadful place. I don't see why. You're so cool." Pixie smiled.

"Thank ya. Yer pretty legit."

"Of course I am!"

A few hours came to pass, hours of watching videos and nonstop talking led the two femmes to breach the subject of their unstable grades. At first, Rhea refused to cooperate, stating that she didn't care about her grades and that it was pointless to even try raising them since they were close to ending the school year.

"I don't understand anything! That's the problem and the fragging teachers are afts." Pixie tried to avoid wincing, well aware of her Sire's all-hearing audio, as Rhea cursed. "I won't be able to scoop up my grades that fast and I refuse to have a tutor."

"Ya don' hafta have ay tutor. Ay can help ya."

Rhea gave Pixie a look of dubiousness. "If your grades aren't as pretty, why are you failing?"

"'Cause Ay don' do tha work. Ay know how ta do errythang, but school's ay waste o' mah time an' Ay don' do et. Ay'm tryin' ta boost mah grades an' Ay can help ya."

Rhea still looked uncertain. "We'll see about it."

After some coaxing, Rhea finally gave in and took up Pixie's offered help. They met in the library after school, when all that were left were the nerds of the student body and they weren't bots that criticized them. Pixie stared intensely at the datapad's screen, making sense of the complex chemistry and physics. "Ef yer sufferin' so badleh, why ya takin' these classes?"

"Reasons." Rhea promptly stated.

Pixie spared her a curious look before looking back at the datapad. "Let's start on tha first chaptah. 'Cause if ya dunno tha basics, ya dunno an-eh-thang."

Rhea snorted. "Let me get my notespad."

"That's ay great place ta start." Pixie giggled.

By the end of their lesson, Rhea could grasp the basics of chemistry and physics. Rhea felt quite proud of herself she could do the first few chapters of the book before harder chapters came into play. The femme questioned Pixie on how she knew to which Pixie replied, "Ay have ay lotta free time."

Rhea snorted in amusement at that. The two walked side by side, exiting the building, chatting casually and Pixie praising Rhea on her progress, only to meet with the school's resident bullies. Fortunately for them, they weren't targeted; Radioactive had done nothing wrong or anything to anger the upperclassmen bullies, but it didn't stop them.

"Is the little nerd gonna go back to Carrier and cry? Bet you are you little nerd, because that's all you do." The largest mech in the group of four reached forward, his dark servo gripping Radioactive's helm fin and tugging the bot forward. The action elicited a sharp yelp from the smaller mech, pain flaring from the unwelcoming grab.

Radioactive managed a glare past his agony, servos clutching at the other holding his fin. "You prey on the weak because you're weak. There are bigger bullies than you and you thi-"

He was silenced with an abrupt punch to his hypergastric region, the wind from his vents flying out of him and he choked.

"Shut up you little fragger!" The offended mech snarled, throwing Radioactive forward into the other bot across the bully.

Rhea practically scowled in furious anger as they shoved the mech around, their laughter sounding sick in her audios. Pixie frowned deeply, intent on ending it, but Rhea beat her to it. With anger fueling her, the femme marched forward, grabbing the ring leader and kicking behind his knee joint. What the offending mech felt was a sharp flash of heat to the back of the knee and shoulder, and he collapsed with a mighty wail. The other three met the glare of the infuriated femme and they growled. "Hey! Frag off femme!"

"Leave him alone!"

"Leave before we slag you too. I'd hate to hurt your pretty face."

"Ay'd like tah see ya try." Pixie growled from behind Rhea. The three mechs jumped back at her deadly glare and they grabbed their leader before scurrying away. No way in Pit were they going to fight her.

Rhea muttered a 'Thanks' behind her before kneeling down, her frame cooling down. She carefully touched Radioactive, her servo quite hot as though she was working her systems way overtime. "Are you okay?"

Radioactive groaned slightly, his frame slightly aching. "Y-Yeah. I-I am..." his dim optics raised, meeting gazes with Rhea. "Thank you."

Rhea managed a smile. "You're welcome."

The mech sat up, rubbing his fin tenderly as he further looked into Rhea's faceplate. "Hey, you're the femme in my science courses!"

She was barely able to hide the flushing on her cheekplates as she nodded. "I was... getting help." Rhea stood up, pulling the mech to his pedes. "Thank Primus I did get help. Those slaggers would have hurt you worse if we hadn't been here."

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't have been the first time. But, thank you. So much." Radioactive offered a smile.