A/N: 400 reviews. Wow, just wow. It really amazes me how far a story I came up with over the course of a night has come. I know I thank you guys a lot, but again I just want to say thank you. Your words of encouragement truly do mean as much as I say. So thank you for having this little fanfiction of mine hit 400 reviews. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the journey as much as you are enjoying what has happened so far.

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CHAPTER 40
Advice and Cold Feet

"I still can't believe you came to me for advice," Hound patted his chest as he looked down at Mark, who was seated on his berth. "I mean, I'd always wanted to show my kid how to get a femme. But I thought I would have to come to you," Hound laughed a little as the boy shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, so do you want to know the story? Or would you rather I just give you the advice?" He asked.

Mark looked at Hound silently, unsure how to answer. Somehow, the idea of hearing the story sounded a lot more interesting. But he also knew that talking about his sparkmate was really, really hard for Hound. "Whichever is easier for you," Mark replied, with a smile on his face. "I don't want you to be hurt by telling me about this," He told him patiently. "You can just go for the advice if you want."

Hound stroked his beard slightly, thinking it over. "How about both?" Hound asked, his optics lowering as he took a Transformer-sized seat. "I can start with a little of how I won over Aqua. It's actually a rather funny story," He commented with a chuckle. "I was just out of the academy, and so was she. At the time, I worked as a construction worker just outside of Kaon."

"You, a construction worker?"

"I was fresh out of "college" basically," Hound laughed a little. "I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my life yet. And actually, neither was she," Hound rubbed the back of his neck as he thought back on his sparkmate. "In fact, we met when she came to apply for the... Basic equivalent of a "elementary" school that I was helping to build," Hound then added with a low chuckle. "She got in the way of a piece of falling Cybertronium. Probably would have died right there if I hadn't tackled her away."

Mark's eyes widened as he leaned forward, curious now. He leaned his head against his open hand, and cocked an eyebrow. "So you met your sparkmate by saving her life?" Hound nodded at his foster sons questioning. "Didn't that like... Instantly get you into her berth? Girls love that right," Hound laughed a little. "What? It's true!"

"She actually didn't notice the danger," Hound laughed a little. "Aqua nearly ripped my head off for ruining her brand new paint job." Mark burst out into laughter at that. "You laugh now, but it's the truth. I thought she was the most beautiful femme I had laid my eyes on. But it didn't change the fact I thought she was nuts," He shook his head slowly. "Even so, I offered to buy her a drink and pay for a new paint job for her. And well, she was definitely not going to turn that down."

"That's how you two started dating?"

Hound shook his head, and waved him off slightly. "Not quite. We were friends after that, yes," Hound replied with a grunt. "But she didn't start dating me for a good vorn. I was friends-zoned pretty fast," He explained with a shrug. "She was offered to bond with another mech for a while, but it never worked out. Their sparks weren't compatible," He then added. "I comforted her that night, and one thing lead to another. And the next thing I knew, I was waking up from a long night under the stars with her. Fill in the blanks yerself."

"That's when Coldsteel was born," Mark guessed.

"Sparked, at least," Hound replied with a wide smile. "Aqua nearly killed me when she found out I had sparked her. Thought I'd be the type of mech who would bail, and be an absent sire," Mark frowned, he could never, ever imagine Hound doing that. "But I didn't. I took a promotion at work, I bought us a house to raise him in. And I asked her to bond with me. By that time, she had dated me for quite some time." He hummed quietly. "We were so very much in love."

Mark smiled, it was a very romantic, and sweet story. He shifted a little, and looked up at his foster father. "That's really beautiful, dad," Hound smiled at his foster son's response. "So I take it your big advice isn't to have sex too soon. Or to have a kid before marriage," Hound let out a long, deep laugh at that one. "So, what advice do you have?"

Hound shrugged his shoulders slightly, thinking about it. "Be yerself, that's the key thing," Hound told him with a deep rumbling. "That's the most obvious one, but I do want to make sure you know that. Femme's like it when ye act like yerself," He pointed and waved a finger at Mark. "But as to my own methods, I have a special move that worked every time. I call it "the stare"," Mark raised an eyebrow. "Observe."

The look in the mech's optics changed, and he leaned against the wall with a look that screamed trying to be "sexy". Yet, on the older mech, only came off as laughable. "Really, dad?" Mark asked with a loud chuckle. "That actually works?" He questioned.

"Worked for most femmes on my planet," Hound laughed back. "Give it a try, what's the worst that could happen?" He questioned, as Mark nodded his head slowly. "Next, femmes don't like to be felt up or touched too much. At least on the first date," Hound told him gently. "So a "move" you might try on the first date is to gently wrap your arm around hers when you walk her in and out of places. But only that," He explained. "It shows the femme you're interested, but respect her boundaries." He explained.

Mark didn't like the sound of that. He really wanted to kiss her, but he supposed it could wait. "Tougher," Mark replied honestly. "But I guess I can work on that too, even if it really sucks."

"Your time to kiss her will come," Hound replied, as if reading his foster son's mind. "I have one final trick for you before we wrap this whole thing up. If all else fails, if you completely screw up the first two things..." Hound leaned forward. "Don't be afraid to just make fun of yerself. She'll probably laugh, so you just need to laugh along with her," Hound told him honestly. "Bring your sense of humor and you can get yourself out of any situation."

"Thanks, dad," Mark said uncertainly. "I think I got some good advice out of that."

"Just be yerself," Hound replied. "If she doesn't like you by the end of the night? It's her loss," He watched as Mark's eyes lit up at that. "Yer a fine catch, and I expect her to see that."

Mark smiled, maybe Hound was right. But there was only ever going to be one way to find out.

...

"You seem a little nervous."

"A little," Mark grunted as he stretched in the backseat of Sideswipe's alt mode. "Seriously, how can I not be? I'm insane. I'm going out with a girl completely out of my league," He shook his head slightly. "Dad tried to help me by giving me some tips he used to get his bondmate. But seriously, I'm going to need a lot more than that if I want this to work out."

"You'll need a miracle," Mark gave his the door a sharp kick. "Ow! I was only kidding, runt. Jeez, get a sense of humor," He added in annoyance. "I'm sure whatever advice your old mech gave you will help you out," Mark shrugged, tapping his foot against the floor in nervousness. "Mirage and Bumblebee are tailing us, right?" He asked curiously.

Sideswipe nodded in response, driving down the road. Indeed, Bumblebee and Mirage had offered themselves as escorts alongside him. Bumblebee getting Prowl to take over at the Yeager farm, while Mirage wanted to try and not be so stingy to Mark. After some time, it was becoming clear that the mech felt at least a little bad for being so cold to him. "Yep, they're not too far behind," Sideswipe replied. "Personally, I'm surprised you didn't ask Mirage to drive you. Girl's love an Italian sports car, right?"

Mark shrugged his shoulder a bit as he watched the scenery roll by. "Sure, Mirage is a cool sports car," Mark replied, he couldn't lie there. "But Maria called your form sexy. And besides, I don't think Mirage is the type to play it cool on a date." Sideswipe shrugged himself that time, he had a good and fair point there. "You know, Sides. Maybe I should cancel. This is stupid, she's probably going to think I still just act like a little kid." He added.

Sideswipe locked his doors, as if to keep him inside. Mark only grimaced, knowing this was a sign that Sideswipe was not letting him out. "Kiddo, this girl likes you," He told him matter-of-factly. "If she didn't, she wouldn't be going on a date with you. So I doubt she thinks you still act like a little kid," Mark sighed, knowing that Sideswipe was probably right. "Why are you so nervous, Mark?"

Mark shifted a little and leaned forward to look at Sideswipe's holoform. "I don't know," Mark finally replied with honesty a few moments later. "I feel like with all the abnormal stuff in my life... Well, something actually normal just feels," Mark shook his head "Like it's too good to last. Like she's going to eventually find me weird or something. Or that I'm putting her in danger by dating her."

Sideswipe nodded his head in response, it made sense. And the latter may have been true, it was a little dangerous to date Mark. After all, that put her in-line with the other Autobot allies and they themselves were almost always in danger. "Okay, if you really feel like that, then you have five minutes to call the date off." Sideswipe informed him with a disappointed tone in his voice. "But if you keep that line of thinking, you'll never have a wife or kids either. You'll just be on your own with Hound, FOREVER."

Mark's brow furrowed slightly, he hated how right Sideswipe was about this. He loved Hound, but he would eventually want a family of his own flesh and blood too. Maybe even adopt a kid of his own as well. The latter he could do whether he was with someone or not, but the former? Could he really give up that idea just because he was paranoid of putting someone else in "danger"? "I hate it when you're right sometimes, Sides," Mark grunted as he leaned forward against the seats. "Fine, I'll go on the date for sure. But if I screw this up badly, I'm blaming you and dad."

"If this goes wrong, I doubt it will be your fault," Sideswipe replied as he resumed to drive towards Maria's house. "Just keep your chin up, your smile wide, and be yourself, kid." He told the boy with great confidence as he pulled up in front of the home. "Because considering we're here now, you don't have much of a choice." He popped the door open as Mark hesitantly climbed out.

Mark stood at the sidewalk, then back at his guardian. Could he really do this? He still wasn't so sure as he made his way to the door and rang the doorbell. He waited patiently, but after several moments, turned to leave. Of course, at that moment, the door popped open and Maria stepped out. "Where are you going?" Mark jumped and spun around. "Sorry, I was still putting make-up on."

Mark turned around to the beautiful sight that was Maria. Her hair was wrapped in a ponytail; and her body covered by a lime green dress, which seemed to sparkle in the moonlight. Mark nearly drooled, but caught himself, shifting a little. "Wow, Mary," Mark began, using her nickname. "You look... Wow, you look beautiful."

Thinking quickly, Mark made an attempt to do Hounds "look". Maria took him in then, noting his nice shirt and slacks, but mostly the fact he had bothered to slick back his hair with gel. Mark looked cute, but she couldn't help but chuckle at the "look" that he was giving her. "And you look handsome," Maria patted her date on the back slightly. "But I think if you keep that face up, it'll get stuck that way."

Getting the hint, Mark carefully straightened, and laughed himself. "Sorry," He muttered, blushing.

"Don't be, it was cute." Maria shrugged her shoulders. "I've had guys try a lot dumber "sexy" poses. At least yours was a little cute," Mark laughed a little at that. "So, are you ready to go? You said we had reservations at like seven, right?"

"Y-Yeah, we should go."

Slowly, Mark wrapped his arm around Maria's free arm (her purse being in the other). Together, they walked down the driveway as Sideswipe watched with a proud smile. Soon, his door had opened and Maria had climbed in, leaning forward. "Good to see you again, Sides," She greeted as Mark closed the door. "Think you can go a little faster tonight? You didn't show me what you could really do the other night."

Mark carefully climbed in at that, smirking a little. "You kidding me," He asked teasingly. "Sideswipe lives for speed."

"Oh yeah," Sideswipe grinned, revving his engine loudly. "You want fast? Let's wait until we clear your house, then I'll show you fast."

As Mark and Maria leaned back and Sideswipe began to drive, he grinned. He was going to make sure that these kids had a good time, no matter what.

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A/N: Haha you'll have to wait for next chapter for the date! Hope this was enough to wet your appetites for it though. :)