Target Practice
...
Aria took the following few days off work. Mark had been skeptical at first but gave in once she told him she had a doctors note. He gave her a week off unless she wanted to come back sooner.
Her other boss at the club was much more lenient. Plus, she only worked part time there.
Madame Bardot simply came to her place for her French lesson that week. The opera was fast approaching and there was no way the woman would let her go without practice just because of a leg injury. That and she had bought tickets to the performance for her and her friends.
The day after Ironhide took her to the hospital he had to go on a mission. He didn't give any details[AL1] other than that he'd be back in a couple of days. He then proceeded to tell Wheelie that if the tiny Autobot so much as considered letting her out of his sight, he would regret it.
Wheelie came to a personal compromise and took to yelling at her to be careful whenever she traversed the stairs. Usually from the couch.
At least he did his best to feed the horses while she brushed them from behind the fence. They could be pushy at times.
It was a Tuesday morning when Aria got up with relative ease. She wandered downstairs at a decent pace and was quiet enough not to wake Wheelie. She didn't plan on going anywhere, and the horses still had plenty of grass and hay to keep them going for at least a week.
She padded into the kitchen. The tiled floor was cool under her feet. She turned the stove on and double checked the water in the kettle.
Aria took her position at the little round dining table that sat in between the kitchen and living room. The surface was mostly clutter free with the exception of her compound bow off to the side and a small vase full of roses she picked from Jetfire's garden yesterday.
Sirius got up from his bed by the back door and happily trotted over. He sat beside her while she gently stroked the smooth fur on his head.
It was probably a good day to clean. Do some laundry and scrub the bathrooms that she'd been neglecting. Then maybe some target practice, it had been a while since the last time.
Shrill whining accompanied by thuds meant Wheelie was on his way downstairs. Lately he'd been using his toy truck form to descend the staircase instead of his bipedal one. It was an absolute pleasure to watch.
He barely made it around the corner when Sirius began to growl.
A strange tingling feeling caused her to look around; oddly familiar, like when Jetfire was about to teleport. She was about to question Wheelie when a figure suddenly appeared in between her and the Autobot.
She immediately recognised the broad figure. Not that materializing out of thin air already gave him away.
Loud barking filled the room and in an instant Sirius lunged at the holoform. Aria grabbed his collar in the nick of time, hollering no. She was pulled up from her chair but managed to stop Sirius before he could attack. His growl turned to a whine, and he sat down obediently.
Ironhide put a hand on his hip. "I didn't know you had it in you, punk."
Aria looked between Sirius and the holoform while she tried to figure out what he meant. "What do you mean?"
"Fast reflexes and a stern command. There is hope for you yet." He pulled out a chair and sat down at the table across where she now stood.
Aria hesitantly released Sirius. He sniffed at Ironhide curiously and went to lie down, still keeping the holoform in sight.
Steam began to billow from the kettle spout. Aria got up to grab a cup to make some tea.
She turned around to face her guest. "Ironhide do you want some..." she trailed off. "Oh yeah."
Ironhide sent her a knowing smirk and shook his head. Aria turned back around and grabbed her cup before she could embarrass herself further. She made her way back to her spot at the table.
"That is interesting attire," Ironhide commented to her approaching form.
Oh no. She was still wearing her nightgown. Between the thin lavender silk and the incredibly short length, it didn't hide much.
Despite her internal mortification, she sat down and simply finger combed her hair forward until it covered her chest.
"Oh these are just my pyjamas." She took a sip of her tea, doing her best not to choke on it.
Ironhide tilted his head the slightest bit. "Pyjamas?" he questioned and looked at her nightgown closely and without shame.
"Y-yeah," Aria stuttered, putting down her cup. "They're what people wear to bed."
"Why are humans so uncomfortable with their natural forms?" Ironhide asked again without missing a beat.
Aria furrowed her brows at his question. Natural forms?
Oh.
"As in, why do we always wear clothes?"
He nodded.
"Uh, societal norms, I guess. Not all humans wear clothing like we do here in America though," she paused. "I thought you guys had a person to teach you about human cultures at the base."
"I would rather ask you than a random female I see once every other week."
He'd rather ask her…or torture her? Surely the human culture liaison would have gone over clothing by now.
Ironhide however, didn't give her a chance to change the topic. "So there is no time when humans here do not wear clothing?"
"Well yeah, when we bathe and um..." Aria shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "reproduction?"
Ironhide looked like he was about to ask yet another delicate question when Wheelie saved her with a loud coughing noise from the couch. "Aria, isn't it time to make breakfast or something?"
"Good idea!" Aria practically yelled. "I'm just going to go get dressed first."
She quickly stood up and flashed a smile at Ironhide, not missing the swift once over he gave her with his sapphire eyes.
She practically stumbled up the stairs and closed the bedroom door behind her. She immediately face planted herself onto her unmade bed with a loud groan.
Couldn't Ironhide give her a teensy bit of notice, or at least appeared outside and knocked? She didn't realize just how comfortable around Wheelie she'd grown until another Autobot popped up in her house.
It didn't help that her brain was still trying to connect Ironhide and Ironhide's holoform as being the same entity. Sure, his voice and personality were the same, and when he smirked his metal face was reflected in it, but now he was human. And even that wasn't true.
Honestly, she just wanted to see him again. Not his alt form, not his holoform. Him. Just like how it used to be.
But that wasn't going to happen ever again thanks to the government. She should be grateful she was able to see him at all, but it wasn't enough.
With another sigh, she lazily rolled over onto her back and sat up on the edge of her bed. She looked around her room that was littered with clothes on the floor. Oh yes, she came up to change.
It was another warm and sunny day today, so she picked out a yellow sundress. As she pulled it on, she heard Ironhide's deep muffled voice from downstairs, he must have been talking to Wheelie.
After getting dressed she went to the bathroom to do her usual routine. She then brushed her hair and put it in a quick half updo. It looked good enough.
She exited her room and walked down the short hall towards the stairs, keeping quiet.
"Did you at least find anything?" Came Wheelie's voice.
"No. They set it off intentionally."
"There's no way they know where they are. You guys made them undetectable, even to yourselves."
"They should have taken my advice and attached guns instead. Kill at least a few of them."
"Shame whenever you bring up guns, the humans always do the opposite."
Aria descended the stairs cutting off whatever tirade Ironhide was about to go on. The hard look in his eyes softened when his gaze met hers. She raised her brows sending him a knowing look and then walked back over to the table to retrieve her cup.
It sounded like a device that detected Decepticons—well, Cybertonians in general. Was that a part of Ironhide's mission? Hopefully it wasn't set up anywhere close by. Surely the Decepticons would stay away from Washington.
She filled the cup with hot water and added another tea bag. Ironhide not so subtly watched her. Which was fine now that she wore more appropriate clothing.
She was about to go sit down again when Wheelie spoke up. "Aria, breakfast."
"Ah!" She turned back around, putting her cup beside the stove. She gathered some vegetables from the fridge and began to chop them up on her cutting board. As she cut up the peppers Ironhide came to rest against the counter beside her. He watched her actions intently.
She moved onto mushrooms when Ironhide took to looking around the rest of the kitchen. He glanced at the sink for a moment, then casually reached over and turned on the tap. He let the water run for a couple of seconds before turning it off again and returning his attention to her. Aria smiled to herself.
"Mind getting the eggs for me?" she asked, directing her smile at him.
Ironhide unfolded his arms and rested his hands against the counter behind him. "Unfortunately, I don't know what those are."
"You don't wanna know," Wheelie piped up from the living room.
Aria rolled her eyes. "They're in the fridge," she gestured to it seeing Ironhide's questioning glance. "Brown cardboard box."
Ironhide's brows only furrowed further, but he went to the fridge regardless. He rummaged around for a minute before he closed the door and put the egg carton down on the counter beside her.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." He already had the box open and was examining an egg.
"Just be care—"
The egg exploded between his fingertips.
"—ful."
Never had a man looked more unimpressed than Ironhide in that moment.
Neither of them moved. Ironhide appeared to have completely frozen in his blasé state. Hand still held away from himself and yolk dripping onto the ground.
Aria burst out laughing. She had to lean on the counter to stop from kneeling over.
"Here," she said after a solid thirty seconds of laughter. She took his wrist and guided him to the sink. She turned on the tap and rubbed a bit of soap between her palms, then used it to wash the egg off Ironhide's much larger hand.
"Ugh, why does everything I touch have to be wet?" Ironhide's deep voice came from behind her ear.
"You were holding it too hard. You have to be gentle."
"I don't do gentle."
Aria craned her neck to look at him. "Yes—"
His face was right there. Inches from hers. She looked back down at their hands. "You do."
"And how do you know that?" His voice was right next to her ear now. Lower in tone than before.
She kept her focus on the task at hand and avoided eye contact like the plague. "Well you haven't accidently killed me yet. So there's that."
He chuckled.
She let go of his hand. He could do the rest. It was just washing his hands after all. Easy task, really. Why did she even do it in the first place again?
"Thank you, Aria."
"Uh, you're welcome."
She returned to cooking, still keeping her eyes down.
Once the omelette was finished, she took her spot at the table with Ironhide joining her, still inspecting his hand[AL2] .
The holoform put his elbows on the table and leaned in. Under his intense gaze, Aria ate even slower and more carefully. She indulged him knowing that she probably did the same to him and the other Autobots without realizing it.
Eventually his eyes began to wander and fell to the compound bow on the table. He picked it up to examine it further. He touched all the different parts of it and pulled on the strings.
"Do you plan on training today?" he asked, glancing up at her for a moment then back at the[AL3] bow.
"I was thinking about it. I just have to adjust the draw weight on that one first. Haven't been practicing much lately."
Ironhide nodded, still eyeing the bow from every angle.
"You want to join?" she asked.
Ironhide put the bow down. "I would. I'm curious to see what you can actually do with this primitive weapon."
"Okay, I just have to do some things first." she grinned and took a final sip of tea.
Ironhide slouched back into his chair. "Fine."
After breakfast, Ironhide had no issues with following her around and upstairs to her messier than usual room.
Ironhide leaned against the wall by the door as she gathered up her clothes from the floor and piled them into the laundry basket.
"You're sure you don't feel pain anymore?"
"Not enough to be chaperoned up the stairs by an Autobot."
"I can never be sure with you humans. You're rate of healing makes no sense to me."
"You just didn't want to hangout with Wheelie."
"You are far better company."
Aria looked up at him from the pillow she had placed back in its proper spot.
Ironhide's eyes were on the balcony. He wandered over, carefully twisting the handle and opening one of the twin doors. He stepped out onto the terrace.
Aria followed him outside.
Ironhide's hand rested on the twisted piece of handrail. "I apologize for the damage."
Aria's face burned. He didn't need to know how many times she looked out the window at the bent railing while she got ready. He didn't need to know how many times she leaned against it while she thought of that night.
"Don't worry about it," she chirped. "It faces the trees so no one can see it anyway."
He nodded absently, still looking thoughtfully at the railing.
Aria turned away before he could see her face. "I'm going back downstairs now. Don't forget to close the door when you come back in."
Without another word, he followed her, closing the door behind him.
...
"I've never seen one of those up close before," Ironhide commented from behind Aria as they walked towards the old shed.
"What, a horse?" Aria looked at the two beasts that were trotting towards her from across the field.
They reached the fence just before the horses came to a halt in front of them. They huffed loudly and attempted to sniff Ironhide.
He took a step back. "They are larger than I anticipated."
Aria laughed and climbed over the fence. Her horses crowded her looking for attention. Ironhide watched with what looked like mild concern.
"This is Azimuth," she patted the black and tan horse, "and this is Zenith," she pet the white one on the nose.
Ironhide approached the fence again. This time when the horses came to investigate him, he reached out to pet them like she had.
She giggled at the holoform's scrunched up face while Azimuth ruffled his hair with his nose. While he was occupied with the excited animals, Aria entered the shed where she stored more bows in with farm tools.
Mounted on the wall were two compound bows and two wooden ones. She took the bigger of the wooden ones down, it was the one her dad used when he came over for target practice.
On a shelf below, she stored her arrows and other accessories. She had quite the assortment thanks to years of archery themed Christmas presents from her parents.
There was a hum of approval behind her.
"More than one, I'm proud," Ironhide said with a lopsided grin.
She did her best to maintain composer despite the warm tingly feeling that filled her body. He was proud of her?
"I've been practicing archery for most of my life, so yeah, I've got a few."
She took her preferred down from the wall and passed the one her father used to Ironhide. She then gathered some arrows and a couple of arm guards.
"You expect me to use this archaic thing?"
"I know it might be difficult for you because it requires skill, but I believe in you."
Ironhide's eyes narrowed at her sarcastic tone. "Is that a challenge?"
Aria flashed him a cocky smirk as she passed him out of the shed. Outside, Sirius chased around Wheelie's alt form over by the house. She shook her head. They both had too much energy sometimes.
Ironhide came to a stand beside her. She gestured for him to follow her over to the side of the shed where the target was set up; a simple piece of plywood backed by two by fours so the arrows wouldn't penetrate the building.
"I'm guessing you know how all this works? Hit the middle of the target, all that."
"Of course," he replied.
They walked away from the building towards the two rocks Aria had set up as the forty-yard mark. She put the quiver full of arrows on her back and strapped on her arm guard on her bare arm. She looked at Ironhide who watched.
"You might want to take off your jacket, or make it disappear or…something."
The holoform flickered for a moment and the dark jacket was replaced by a simple white tee shirt. She turned away before he caught her gawking at his exposed arms.
Swallowing, she asked him to hold out his arm so she could put a guard on him too. Her hand shook slightly as her fingers brushed his forearm. His skin may not have been real, but it felt like it.
She backed away when she was finished and handed him another quiver full of arrows. "All right, I'll demonstrate for you."
She took her position behind the rocks and notched an arrow. She brought the bow up with an inhale. While exhaling, she pulled the string back until it rested against her chin and lip. A moment later, she released the arrow. It sailed through the air and hit its mark near the center of the target. She raised her brows and gave Ironhide a cheeky grin.
"That hardly seems difficult," he said, taking her place at the stones.
"All right then, prove it."
Ironhide mimicked her stance almost perfectly. He notched the arrow on the string and began to pull it back.
"You have to use your other hand," Aria interrupted. "It's a right handed bow and you're using your left."
He released the bow string and gave her a strange look. "What difference does it make?"
Aria resisted the urge to laugh. "A lot when it comes to bows."
"Ah."
He switched hands and once again brought the string close to his face but not touch it. His hand was a little low and his elbow wasn't turned out enough.
He released the string and they both watched the arrow fly. It made contact with the top corner of the target.
That…wasn't bad. Forty yards was a long distance for a beginner. Then there was the breeze to correct for, familiarity of the bow, even stance to adjust.
"Wow that was pretty—"
Before she could finish, he had already notched another arrow and pulled back. He modified his stance slightly and fixed his elbow. This time the arrow hit one of the outer rings of the circle. He growled as he went for another arrow.
She couldn't tell if he was frustrated because he didn't hit dead center on his first try, or because he didn't like to be beaten. He released arrow after arrow, modifying slightly each time. May as well wait until he got whatever it was out of his system before she helped him.
Aria grew hot as the sun beat down on them. After a few more minutes of observing the angry holoform, she sat down on the cool grass and leaned back on her palms.
Finally, Ironhide ran out of arrows. He looked partially at her and partially at the quiver across her back.
"Would you like some suggestions?"
He muttered something at first and looked over to the target where her arrow taunted him from its spot near the center. He crossed his arms with the bow still in hand.
"All right," he finally relented.
She let out a huff of laughter and got up to help him. He returned it with an eye roll and grin. Thanks to her, his expressions looked perfectly human, and for that she was proud.
She spent a few minutes explaining what he was doing right and wrong and then walked with him to the target to retrieve the arrows.
She shot a few more times, explaining her process as she did. This time Ironhide openly asked her questions that she happily answered.
"I admit it," he said. "I'm impressed at your skill with this weapon."
"Thank y—"
"Despite it being useless on the battlefield."
She frowned and put her hands on her hips. "It's not useless!"
"I'm only kidding, punk."
This time when Ironhide took aim, his form was perfect. She was a little put off with the fact that the holoform did not need to breathe, or have any body sway for that matter. When he held the string back to his cheek, he looked like a statue.
He released the string and the arrow landed right beside hers in the second ring from the middle.
"Holy crap."
"That's more like it." Ironhide did little to hide his satisfaction.
Target practice quickly descended into a competition, which was probably how most things with Ironhide turned out.
As the day went, they backed up to further rock markers until they reached the sixty yard mark. Her amazement towards Ironhide's skill shifted to his amazement towards hers. At some point Wheelie and Sirius joined them, the former sitting down on the grass beside her.
Ironhide was currently taking aim. Real fabric or not, it stretched over his torso leaving little to the imagination.
"Try not to drool, eh." Wheelie said under his breath.
"He's not even real," she hissed back.
Ironhide released the arrow. Unlike the rest of his recent shots, it missed the target all together.
"So, Hide, you going to Aria's thing next week?"
"I'm afraid I'm not sure what this 'thing' is," Ironhide remarked while he took aim again.
"You know, the opera? You only drove her to rehearsals for it for months."
Ironhide let go of the string, sending the arrow flying. "No, she neglected to tell me anything about it." He lowered the bow.
"Well I'm sorry I didn't know you could suddenly will a human body into existence. And even so, I know you wouldn't like it, it's not some half an hour musical. It's hours of singing. It's all very inefficient."
"I would endure it."
"And my parents are going to be there, so I might not even get the chance to say hi."
Wheelie and Ironhide exchanged mischievous glances.
Aria huffed, "Ugh, I'm going to get something to drink. Try not to scheme while I'm gone."
...
Thanks for the reviews, favs and follows! Means a lot to me to see you're enjoying the story. I would love to post more frequently, but alas, the semester is coming to an end which means finals, and I also work part time, so I'll do my best with weekly uploads! Thanks guys xx