They had chatted most of the way to the small mountain town Diana navigated them to. She, asking him about his people, what they were made of, how they worked. He pestered her about human customs, odd habits and hobbies they had.
Eventually they arrived at a run down repair shop, Diana smiling as an elderly man appeared in the doorway to the building.
"I'll be two minutes, just wait." she said as she reached for the door, but as before, Knock Out opened it for her. She still wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want her to smudge the door handle or if he was being polite.
"I'll be counting." he quipped.
She rolled her eyes, walking over to the old man who regarded her with a warm smile. "Hello Arnold, how are you?"
He smiled at her, offering a grease stained hand and shaking hers gently. "Just fine Little Di, just fine." he gestured behind her to the red car, gleaming in the sunlight. "Friend of yours?"
"You could say that." she glanced over her shoulder at Knock Out, knowing he could hear them.
"Why doesn't he come out, say hello?" Arnold looked back to Diana.
"He's not exactly the social type, prefers to not be seen." she shrugged.
She could have sworn the Aston Martin scoffed.
"Ah, well then." the old man turned, leading her into his garage, rummaging about a moment before finding two small boxes.
"You're a lifesaver, you have no idea how hard these old parts are to find." Diana beamed, taking the boxes from him.
Arnold chuckled. "Well, there's a lot of old parts around here."
"How much do I owe you?"
"Nothing my dear, I owe a lot to your father, rest his soul, I'm happy to help." he took one of her hands in his own, shaking it gently.
Diana nodded, smiling. She'd grown up knowing Arnold, and knew better than to try and argue away his gifts. "If you need a favor, just let me know."
Arnold nodded, walking her back to the doorway. "That's an impressive looking machine, must be a fancy boyfriend of yours to own something like that."
Diana stiffened beside him, her eyes on Knock Out. "He's not my boyfriend, just a, friend I guess." she said quickly, unable to hide the shade of red washing over her cheeks.
The elderly man chuckled, turning back into his shop with a wave of his hand. "Sure sure, that's what they all say."
With a sigh Diana returned to Knock Out, the bot opening the door for her again. "Crazy old man."
"You took three minutes forty seven seconds." Knock Out grinned, starting up and backing out of the little driveway the moment she settled in her seat.
"Oh shut it." she rolled her eyes at him, slouching in her seat, cheeks still red.
"So, boyfriend huh?" there was a mischievous note to his voice.
"In your dreams." she retorted. "Just drive, okay? Take the Highway." she folded her arms over her chest, slouching a little more in a pout.
"It's understandable that even a fleshy like you would be smitten by my charm and good looks."
"You've done nothing but pick on me since we met."
"It's fun, what can I say?" he chuckled, skidding around a corner of the mountain highway. "Where are we going anyways? This route would take us longer to return."
"It's a surprise." she said softly, a hint of a smile on her lips.
"I don't like surprises."
"Surprises are fun." she frowned at him.
"Because the types of surprises I encounter are usually people shooting at me, or scratching the paint." he muttered.
"Well this is a good surprise, I promise."
About ten minutes later, Diana directed him off the highway, onto a little traveled dirt road. Knock Out had protested the dirt of course, worried about becoming dirty. Diana had told him to quit being a baby and man up, something he took as a challenge.
"You don't have to go as fast as you can on this you moron." she sighed, jostled a bit in her seat.
"I always go fast pinkie."
"Uh huh." she shook her head, mood shifting as they rounded a bend in the road and a picturesque lake came into view, settled perfectly between the mountains. "We're here." she was scrambling out of her seat before he came to a full stop.
"Whoa whoa, why so excited?" he asked, watching as she gathered her bags and the two boxes, setting them aside so he could shift into his bipedal form.
"I have a lot of good memories here, my parents used to take me here on weekends, we'd swim." she smiled, heading for the shoreline.
Knock Out snorted, following after her carefully. "I certainly hope you don't plan on doing that now."
"Why? Afraid of water too?" she teased, turning and walking backwards a few steps so she could smile up at him.
"Water does bad things to a bot, I prefer myself rust free thank you very much."
Diana laughed at him, hopping down a little drop, about two feet tall where the dirt ended and the rocky shoreline began. "You're such a baby."
He rolled his eyes at her, stepping onto the rocks as well, though he didn't approach the waters edge as she did.
"Ooh, cold." she smiled, having pulled one foot from her flats to dip her toes into the water.
"Mmm." Knock Out mumbled, glancing about the area.
"Pretty, right?" she smiled, replacing her shoe and walking over to him.
"It has it's charm, I admit." he looked to her, watching as she examined the stones, selecting a flattened one. "What are you doing?"
"Haven't you ever skipped rocks?" she turned to face the water, hurling the rock at it and smiling as it skipped six times. "My Dad taught me, we'd always compete."
Knock Out lifted a brow, looking to the rocks to find one he could toss, albeit the stone was much larger in comparison to hers. "I can throw farther than you." he tossed the rock, counting the six skips.
"You count the distance and the number of skips silly, not just distance." she grinned up at him, "And I got really good, no one could beat me."
"I bet I could." he matched her grin, setting a hand on his hip to look down at her.
"Well duh, you're bigger and stronger." she rolled her eyes, turning and walking to the dirt step, sitting and reclining against it with her legs stretched out before her.
"I could factor in the size, mass of our bodies, relative strength... get it on the same level mathematically -"
She lifted her hands, laughing and interrupting him. "Alright alright, you're putting way too much thought into this, it's supposed to be a relaxing thing."
He shrugged, moving beside her and dropping to sit as well. His left leg, which was nearest her, slid out to lie flat. He bent his right leg at the knee, resting his right arm across it.
They sat in silence for a bit before Diana spoke. "I think, this is my favorite place, the most beautiful place I know."
Knock Out hummed thoughtfully. "My favorite place was Crystal City." he continued at Diana's curious glance. "It's exactly what it sounds like, a city constructed to look like it's composed of crystal, entirely." A smile formed on his face, warm and genuine. "It was beautiful, especially at sunset." His smile faded a bit, his gaze lifting skywards. "I wish I could see it again."
"Maybe you can go back one day?" Diana said softly, offering a smile.
"Even if I did, the City was destroyed in the war, nothing left of it." there was an obvious ache to his voice, a sadness in his optics as he glanced to her.
"I'm sorry."
He shrugged, clearing his throat. "Slag happens." He frowned, slightly embarrassed that he'd become so sentimental, he never talked like this.
The pair sat quietly again, simply glancing out over the lake, which was as still and clear as glass.
They arrived back at Diana's place late afternoon, the sun still high in the sky.
Knock Out opened the garage doors, zipping in as if he owned the place and waiting before Diana removed herself and her items before transforming.
"Thanks for driving me." she smirked, heading up to her loft to put her things away.
"Eh." she shrugged off the thanks, lifting his left arm. A soft point of light blinked on, a holographic screen appearing over his forearm.
Diana blinked. "That's fancy."
"Just a holoscreen, lot's of bots have them." he tapped his finger against it, frowning gently at the words on it.
"You can interact with it? Touch it?" she tilted her head to the side, watching him.
"Of course, we have a few things like this, holoforms are the most common."
"What's that."
"It makes a smaller version of us, it's kind of remote controlled I suppose, most of our consciousness is transferred to that although we can still control our main body. We can see, feel, taste, touch and hear what it does, it becomes an extension of us." he sighed, lowering his arm, the screen vanishing.
"So you could pop out a tiny version of you?" she laughed, trying to imagine him smaller.
"In theory, the problem is the power needed to be able to produce a holoform takes a lot of Energon, our peoples lifeblood, and one of the main reasons we're on your planet, a lot of it was stashed here during the war. So even if I acquired the tech to learn how to form one, I wouldn't have the means to make it."
"Mmm, I take it that stashing happened long before humans were here." she leaned on the railing, folding her arms along it. He'd explained to her as best he could their life cycles, impressing her with how long lived Cybertronians were.
"I couldn't give you an exact time, I was doing other things when it happened." he stepped to the still open door, pausing in the door frame.
"Are you going?" Diana asked, straightening and watching him.
"I should, if I'm out too long Megatron gets, agitated." he shrugged, still hesitating to leave.
"Oh, well, if he's a pissy as you say, probably best to not make him angry." there was a hint of sadness to her voice.
"Don't worry squishy, I'll be back tomorrow, after all, I still owe you." and with that he stepped outside, bowing as he closed the door behind himself with a smirk.
Diana could only laugh as she heard him shift forms and tear off.