"So how long has Smokescreen had a thing for Arcee?"

Jack – mid sip of his soda – choked abruptly, doubling over as he was overcome with a fit of coughing. Finally able to pull some much needed air into his lungs, he shot his blonde friend a confused look, demanding, "What?!"

The young woman's eyebrows pinched together, a wry smile pulling at her lips. "Oh come on," she chuckled. "You mean to tell me you haven't noticed?"

"What makes you think that?"

She shrugged, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward until her elbows rested on her knees. Miko and Raf leaned a little closer too, inquiring minds eager to hear her explanation. "To start, he's always looking at her, especially if he thinks no one is watching." She motioned with her head for them to observe, and all three snuck inconspicuous looks in the direction of said mech. He seemed busy with some kind of task… but every once and a while his gaze would slide toward the blue femme, quickly snapping away as she turned.

The four sat in silence for a little bit, processing. Raf looked flustered. Jack appeared horrified. Tess was smug. Miko giggled.

"Smokey has a cruuush."

"Secondly," she continued, finger in the air in a very matter-o-fact way, "he gets incredibly jumpy when she's talking directly to him."

The eldest male of their group shook his head as if to dispel some kind of disturbing thought. "Can Cybertronians even have romantic feelings?"

Tess blew a raspberry. "I don't see why not. They have other meaningful relationships, why not romantic ones?"

Jack ran a hand through his bangs. "Still, we don't know if it's like that. Maybe he's just nervous around her, since he's the newbie."

"He doesn't behave like that with Bee or Bulkhead," Tess challenged.

"I mean, she is a baddie!" Miko affirmed. "If I were a giant alien robot guy, I'd totally have a thing for her too."

Standing, the dark haired male took another look at the pair of them, watching as Arcee approached the larger mech with a grumble. Apparently he'd been doing… whatever he was doing, wrong, and she deftly showed him how to complete the task more effectively. Smokescreen just nodded along, optics wide, servos clenching by his sides.

"She'd kinda hard on him though."

"I think he likes it," Tess snickered.

Jack blanched, looking back at her. "What does that even mean?!"

She flapped her hand at him in a playful way. "I think he enjoys having someone boss him around a little. It's pretty common, actually. A lot of dudes who act all tough and confident enjoy strong, domineering women. It's giving dominatrix kink vibes. Smokey wants someone to put him in his place."

Dropping his face into his palm, the young man muttered, "Just… why? Why are you the way that you are?"