A/N: I'd just like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and alerted this so far. This is the quickest reviewed story I've written so far. :) Would love to see some reviews from the people who have faved/alerted, but not reviewed yet too. :)

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CHAPTER 4
Trying

The tapping on Tony's bedroom window that night made him nearly jump out of his skin. The boy turned his head, quietly wondering if he had a balcony. Unsure, he decided to simply check, and opened the blinds calmly. Of course, the moment he saw Ironhide, he nearly closed them again. But Ironhide held up a hand a bit. "Relax kid, I come in peace." He then nodded "Can you hear me clearly, or do we need to open the window?" He asked.

"I can hear you fine." Tony replied, quietly.

"Look, I've been a real jerk to you." Ironhide began, his voice quiet, and calm "I can be a VERY rough guy sometimes, but... I guess it's just that I've been around their daughter so long that... Having some new and strange kid-"

"Made it feel like I was an intruder?"

Ironhide's optics fell a bit, Tony sat there, shifting the covers over his waist. Ironhide had waited until that night, where they could talk alone, and he was nearly ready for bed. He took a deep breath, and stared at Tony. "Look kid, I don't dislike you. I'm just not COMFORTABLE with you either. Not yet, at least. Please, give me time, and it will change." Tony looked down, and Ironhide sighed "It shouldn't matter what I think anyway, boy. Since both Will and Sarah quite like you." He admitted.

"Yeah, well, I like them too. They're nice." Tony noted, and stared at Ironhide "But if we keep bickering, I'm afraid they'll kick me out." He noted.

Ironhide's optics softened a little, he knew that wouldn't be the case. Tony may not have seen it yet, but he did. They were coming to slowly love this boy as their own, and if that would stick he didn't know. But he did know their bickering would in no way stop it. "I'll tell you what, I'll stop my bickering with you..." Tony turned his head, now interested "If you give me a chance to truly get to know you. It will give you a chance to prove you're a good kid to me." He noted.

Tony stared at Ironhide, suspicious a bit. "You're not going to try and trick me into something again, are you?" He asked.

"No, I promise to be one hundred percent fair. Like I've said, don't give me a reason to use my cannons and I won't." Ironhide noted, he stared at Tony, hopefully "Give me a chance to prove to you that though I don't... Trust you all that much, yet." He paused "I'm not such a bad mech either." He explained.

Tony stared at Ironhide, noting the genuine look in his optics. Ironhide didn't like him, not yet anyway, but he was giving him a chance to show him why he should like him. As well as apologizing, and lord knew for Ironhide that was a big step. He'd only been there a month, and already, Tony knew that was a big step for a mech like him. "Alright, I'll give you a chance, if you're going to give me one." Tony told him, eyeing the mech slowly "I'm still scared of you though, and I hope you realize that." He admitted.

"You don't really have to be, not like I'm gonna stick you in a cage." Tony brought himself to chuckle, just a little "Now, get to sleep, youngling. It's nearly midnight, Will and Sarah gave you a bedtime of ten. I'll let it slide for now, take that as a gift." He nodded his head, and turned around as Tony laid in his bed slowly, and looked out "For the record, though it is hard to have you here... You are good for them." He noted, and turned his head "And I believe they may very well be good for you." He added.

Tony watched as Ironhide headed towards his usual area. Wondering for a moment if he had Ironhide all wrong. Perhaps Ironhide didn't see him as a threat, perhaps Will and Sarah had been right. He was simply suffering from separation anxiety from Annabelle, why that was, Tony had no way of knowing. He sighed, turning and turning off his lamp, he closed his eyes slowly, falling into a deep slumber. He'd think about it more in the morning, when Ironhide was supposed to start giving him a chance.

Things were certainly going to get interesting come tomorrow, he noted. All he could hope for was that Ironhide would really keep to his word.

...

The honking of the horn that morning nearly made Tony jump out of his skin. He peered out the window, seeing that Ironhide's holoform leaned against his truck form. He was a tall, older man, greying hair, a grey mustache, some obvious wrinkles, but built like a body builder. Opening the window, Tony peered looked out. "Get dressed, eat, and get your butt out here kid. The Lennox's are gone for the day." He then added "And we should get this whole 'getting to know each other' thing, started." He noted.

Tony stared at him, he blinked, and nodded his head before closing the window. He wastes no time, does he? He thought to himself.

He carefully got ready, rushing out the door as to not keep the mech waiting. He had a feeling if he kept him waiting for more than an hour, he might get quite annoyed by him. Tony stopped for a moment, should he trust him again? He paused for a moment, yeah, he figured. What did he have to lose? Ironhide had seemed genuine the night before, maybe he'd be genuinely kind after all. "So..." Tony made his way over, setting his hand on his real form "What are we doing, anyway?" He asked.

"William tells me you're a fan of boxing, I happen to be a fan myself." Tony tilted his head a bit, and nodded "Well, there's this gym Will and I sometimes volunteer at. I thought perhaps ye could show me what you've got." Tony tightened up a little "Not against me, kid. I have no intention of boxing a child, I could seriously hurt you, even in this form." He noted.

Tony nodded his head slowly, taking a deep breath. "I've never actually fought. You'd have to teach me." Tony replied "I mostly watch boxing." He explained.

Ironhide sighed, this kid was killing him, even if Will had ben the one to misinform him. He took a deep breath, he'd trained kids at the gym before, he could do it again. The kid may not be any good, but he, like Ironhide, was trying to make this work. "Alright, I can teach you the basics. But yer going to have to pay REAL close attention. I've been doing what you call "Boxing" since..." He paused "You know what, I'm not finishing that sentence as you'll crack jokes, just like everyone else does." He noted.

"You're all pretty old, aren't you?" Tony asked.

"By your standards, kid? We're all pretty much ancient." Ironhide snorted "But we wage every thousand years. So I'm actually about Will's age in human standards." He noted.

"So forty-five thousand then?" Tony asked.

Ironhide smirked, if there was one thing he liked about this kid, it was that. The fact he wasn't afraid to be cheeky around him, sure if he ever insulted him, he'd probably regret it. But he appreciated someone with a good sense of humor, if anything. "Okay, so I'm a little older." Ironhide said, hiding the fact he was around fifty "But you, boy, will never know it." He added.

"I'd say you're about fifty-six, going by your 'holoform'." Tony replied, having learned the name from Will.

Ironhide stared at Tony, the boy was very intelligent if he had deduced his exact age like that. Was the boy some sort of genius? Ironhide couldn't tell, but suddenly, he wouldn't be surprised. He was certain the boy wasn't a certified genius, but all it would take was a test. "They said you were smart, but that's a scary level of smart. You'd have to really study my profile to figure that out." Ironhide noted, looking Tony up and down "You ever take that 'Genius Test'?" He asked.

"Nah, I'm just good at that kind of stuff." Tony shrugged his shoulders "I wouldn't do well with tests due to my non-verbal, so it's sort of..." He paused "It basically means I don't learn things by reading that well, I don't take tests well. And it makes me kind of immature." He attempted to explain to Ironhide "Which is exactly why I've never tried. But trust me, I'm smart, but I'm no genius. All you have to do is see my Science and Math grades to prove that." He laughed.

Ironhide chuckled a bit, and nodded. He did enjoy the boy's honesty, most teens weren't so open about their problems, not even Annabelle. So he was impressed by him, without any doubt. "You're still rather smart, I'm impressed." He noted, as Tony climbed into his alternate mode "William says other than those two classes, you excel in school." He noted.

"Yeah, well, some things I'm better at than others." Tony admitted "We'll see how High School goes." He noted.

"I thought you were in High School?"

"No the local ones a Junior High School too. I'm still in eighth grade." Tony clearly had been held back a year at some point, but didn't want to openly admit that "Lots of factors caused that, but basically things went to hell in my life for a while." He admitted, Ironhide's holoform nodded casually "I don't really want to talk about it, but lets just say I wasn't ALWAYS a good kid like I am now." He then admitted "And it wasn't my fault I was that way either." He added.

Ironhide stared at Tony for a moment, wondering what he meant. Yet he didn't pry, this was supposed to be a way to get to know each other better. But to pry into obviously very personal matters was not his place, not now anyway. Slowly, he pulled out of the farm, and headed for the dirt road. If anything, he figured, this whole thing was going to be nothing short of interesting.