(Please see all previous disclaimers)
Optimus was glad to finally be heading out of the med bay and to his and his mate's quarters. Optimus was glad Mirage had agreed to be temporary Prime, but now that Optimus was better, Optimus was happy to take back his role. Though Optimus was pretty sure that between Hide, Mirage, and Ratchet, the Prime would be monitored very carefully. Optimus thought about all these things as he headed home with his mate.
"Is something on your mind, beloved?" Mirage asked, seeing that Optimus had been quiet most of their way home.
"Oh, nothing much…" Optimus answered, not wanting to bother or worry his mate. Optimus didn't like to worry his mate.
Mirage wasn't buying it. "Optimus, I can't read your processor. You need to talk to me if something is bothering you, my love. I can't help you with something if I don't know about it" Mirage replied, gently encouraging Optimus to talk.
Optimus sighed, Mirage always seemed to have a way to get the reluctant Prime to talk about concerns. "How am I supposed to be a strong Prime if I have to have someone watch over me for this entire week. It would look odd" Optimus offered, thinking Mirage would be the constant tail.
"Love, it will be fine. Hide will watch you when you and I are apart. I will watch you when we are together and Ratchet will keep tabs when you go to the med bay. We want to keep things as much like normal as possible" Mirage answered, stunning Optimus a bit.
Optimus was silent for a bit, not realizing that his mate had already thought about this. "I guess… you know me better than I thought" Optimus replied, stunned yet relieved at how Mirage planned to handle this.
"I know you want to look strong and capable. I understand. I never want to appear weak either. Since bots are used to seeing Hide in the office with you, he and I thought that would work best so that you can be watched but still appear strong as you finish healing" Mirage answered, explaining his reasoning.
Optimus carefully hugged his smaller mate, in a sense, thanking the bot for what he had done. "Thank you, love. Thank you for trusting that I will be ok" Optimus said with a soft smile. Mirage just hugged back and soon they were home. And since their precious brood was elsewhere, they shared a bit of time together before falling into recharge, wrapped in one another's arms.