in which roswell bathes, flirts, and dissociates

roswell spent his weekdays on the ark with the autobots, and his weekends in a small studio apartment in the nearby city. the money partially came from a stipend the autobots received, and the rest came from the online articles she wrote. no matter how many weeks he had spent with the autobots, it was always a wonder to her when she returned. something about the ship teeming with robot beings the size of the average house was something that never failed to wow and impress.

he often was found wandering the halls, careful to stay out of the way of the autobots. if invited, roswell joined on simple patrols, or watched their battles with worried wonder from the safety of teletran-1. she always had something to say, a question to ask, or some way to tell the autobots they were fascinating and so, so pretty.

which is exactly what made his quiet demeanor so unusual and unsettling.

smokescreen had picked her up from her apartment as sunstreaker was off on a extra patrol route, fully ready to continue their heated discussion on whether or not gambling and cheating whilst gambling could be used on the battlefield, and how exactly it could be done. truthfully, smokescreen had been enjoying it.

roswell however seemed distant, mumbling answers until he simply stared off into space for the rest of the short ride. upon returning to the ark, she didn’t run off to pester the usual gossip hounds for what he had missed on these past few days.

“she didn’t even turn around to gawk when i transformed,” the autobot later said, sounding miffed, “not even a little turn! just walked off in a daze, no muttering under his breath. like he wasn’t even the same person,” smokescreen finished. it was late, and most bots had finished their daily tasks, with the exception of the few bots on night shift. the rec room had a few bots lingering before turning in for the night, and he was sat with bluestreak.

“okay well.. you did pick up the right human, right? i feel like roswell is very hard to mistake for other people- i mean she has those weird clothes that she wears that sunstreaker loathes, and i don’t think i’ve seen very many humans with visors. they’re not really the kind of-”

“yes bluestreak, i’m sure it was roswell. not many people wear those sunglasses, nor do they often get into cars without a driver,” smokescreen cut the younger praxian off gently, used to the talkative young bot. bluestreak shrugged in response, and the two sat quietly for a few more moments, finishing off their nights ration of energon.

“think i’m going to turn in for the night, maybe send a message to the yellow menace about his human,” smokescreen finally said, tossing the remains of his cube in the recycler. bluestreak waved as he left the room, smokescreen opening up a comms thread with sunstreaker.

::hey sunstreaker, smokescreen here. got a question for you.::

he leaned in on the glyphs, attempting to make it clear that it was a genuine question, not just him being an annoyance. again.

::what is it.:: the response came back rather quickly, and smokescreen laid it out without prettying up the words.

::you seen your squish yet? picked her up today, was in some fog. didn’t even continue our debate. didn’t even turn around when i transformed.::

::you picked up the right human, right?::

::yes, i did. primus- first bluestreak now you! you guys really think i don’t know one human from another?:

::i’ll find him.::

::you didn’t ans-::

“fraggin’ rude,” smokescreen muttered under his breath as the comm thread was disconnected.

roswell lay on his bed-turned-mess nest, staring up at the ceiling of the room he stayed in during his time with the autobots. nothing fancy- just a set of essentially cabinets- each shelf had its own door. it created a space a bit larger than the average studio apartment, and had been converted into a living space for him.

his brain wandered, feeling completely fried. it was miserable when he was unable to focus- couldn’t do a single task without messing something up, and had decided early in the day to just embrace the fog and not be present at all. a brief knock on the cabinet door stirred him from oblivion, and she willed herself to get up and open it.

apart from rolling onto her side, nothing happened.

the knock came again, and after a moment, the door opened itself. it was just under the normal face height for the bots, and she watched distantly as sunstreaker leaned forward just enough that he could see into the room.

“so. what’s wrong with you?”

right into it, apparently. roswell shrugged, half-heartedly reaching to the nightstand for her sunglasses. sunstreaker wasn’t letting much light in, but assumedly the yellow autobot wanted to take her somewhere, and he wasn’t feeling up for much stimulation.

“jus’ not present, ‘guess.”

he could feel sunstreakers’ optics on him, studying him. he stared back, mind wandering. what shade of blue was that? he had taken color theory in school, so he should know this. the train of thought was broken by a careful jab to the stomach, startling him.

“don’t go away on me.” sunstreaker’s voice was firm, and he poked roswell in the stomach again, holding it there until she put a hand on the large digit.

“i can stay? uh. if you want?” roswell wasn’t exactly sure where he had been going, or if they had been going somewhere. he couldn’t really think of much, at the moment. sunstreaker sighed, and he moved his hand out of the room.

“look, get some stuff together. a fresh change of clothes, all the layers, whatever they are. whatever soft stuff you want, don’t worry about carrying it. just bring it over here,” sunstreaker instructed, adding reminders or repeating as roswell moved sluggishly around the room. he dragged a large blanket from the clean stack, pairing it with his newest and softest pillow. another reminder sent him to his clothes, a clean pair of underwear and a sleep dress, not bothering to untangle it from the bright pink sleep shorts that had been folded up in the dress.

he carried it over to where sunstreaker waited with his hand level to the floor of the makeshift room, and the yellow bot gently ushered him onto the hand- servo. they called their hands servos. the yellow bot held him in cupped servos, and he briefly had the scene of someone cradling something fragile, something easy to break.

he couldn’t see over the tips of the autobots digits, and he accepted the fact that sunstreaker was taking him somewhere. the sound of his steps changed slightly- echoed more. his things were tucked away somewhere, and roswell was finally able to see where they were. the autobot washracks, not a place often visited by the human. they took the first open stall, sunstreaker closing the panel behind them.

“are you particularly attached to your clothes?

“whuh?”

sunstreaker raised an eyebrow- were they eyebrows? the little ridges above their optics? they weren’t human, so not everything was comparable, but the expression on the autobots’ face was so much like the human expression that it couldn’t be anything else.

“do you have eyebrows?” she asked, and sunstreaker sighed, and shook his head.

“okay, well. you’ve got plenty of other clothes, i’m not too bothered. stay here, strip, i’ll be back with something for you to clean yourself with,” sunstreaker carefully set him down on an empty shelf and left, steps fading out. the day-long fog had started to somewhat lift, still heavy in his mind but not as smothering. roswell undressed, shoving the dirty clothes into the shirt and balling it up. it was somewhat unnerving to be undressed- he had obviously showered at the base before, but that was in the safety and privacy of his own cabinet-home. here, he could slip, fall, and splat. in that order.

the door panel slid open again, and he awkwardly covered himself. sunstreaker entered, carrying a small tub in his arms that was about the size of a small pool to the human. the autobot was carefully averting his optics, setting the tub down on the shelf as well.

“no soap or anything- nothing human friendly at least. still would be good to at least wash yourself off.”

for a moment, sunstreaker seemed as if he wanted to add something else, but instead he turned and leaned against the wall, adding “let me know when you’re dried and dressed” with a dismissive gesture. it was oddly private and intimate at the same time- bathing in something the size of a pool in a room with the floor space of a football field while a massive twenty-foot bot turned away so he didn’t see anything.

roswell washed as best he could, ducking under the water to scrub his hair until it felt not as greasy. repeat for the rest of his body, and then he clambered out of the pool-tub and dried herself off with the rag that sunstreaker had apparently also brought. by the time he was dressed, he felt exhausted- he had done barely anything all day and yet he could sleep right here.

“‘m done?” he called out, hoping the yellow bot wasn’t in the middle of anything. he wasn’t sure what to expect next- did sunstreaker come to get him just for that, in hopes of waking him up? going out was unlikely, as a sleep dress that said “sws: sleeping while smexy” wasn’t exactly something sunstreaker would be seen out in public with.

sunstreaker looked softer somehow, when he turned around. the water in the pool-tub was dumped into a floor drain, and he tossed his old clothes in it once directed. sunstreaker set his free hand flat for the human to climb onto, carefully curling it around her as they moved. they left the stall, sunstreaker tossing the tub and its contents onto a storage shelf as they passed by.

“where we going?” roswell asked before remembering the blanket and pillow he had brought as well, “the-”

“i have the other stuff, don’t worry about it, squish,” sunstreaker replied before she had even finished, voice low and notably softer, “i’ve got it all under control. let me take you home, okay?”

roswell’s heart sunk. he had been expecting to go back to his little cabinet room, had been hoping for something a little different, but hadn’t even considered that sunstreaker might just take him back to the city. it must have showed on his face, because sunstreaker carefully pat him on the head with a digit.

“not back to your apartment,” he assured the human, and hesitated. again, he seemed as if he wanted to add more, and roswell waited to see if he would. “it’s been a long fight, and sometimes you pick up people, and know what works for them and doesn’t. you make little groups. you’re part of my little group, whether you like it or not, so..” sunstreaker seemed to stumble over his words, but roswell picked up the important parts, and it warmed his heart.

he was part of sunstreaker’s group- somehow, he had wormed his way into the spark of one of the most temperamental autobots out there. roswell relaxed into the hand again, curling his arm around one yellow digit, letting the two of them fall into a comfortable silence. they had most certainly passed where she roomed by now, and though roswell had only slept there once or twice, he knew where they were.

sunstreaker keyed his door code in, turning the lights onto a dim setting. “sideswipe’s out on night patrol, he won’t be back for a while,” he said as he set the human down on the table nearest to the large couch in the room. it was fascinating at how similar the room looked to a regular human room- tables, chairs, a couch. shelves lined with various things, and some of sunstreakers finished art projects lined the wall.

“so. you want to.. share? i’ll be honest, i am not the feelings mech. sideswipe claims i have made repressing feelings into an art,” sunstreaker started, sounding somewhat awkward. “perfectly fine if you don’t. won’t push. that’s smokescreen’s job, when he’s not gambling your money away.”

roswell shrugged, pulling his blanket around her shoulders. the bath had admittedly helped the brain fog start to melt away, though it had been replaced by a deep feeling of being tired. it was still there, lingering, and she loathed the idea of bringing up the topic.

“oh. you know. family stuff, friend stuff,” roswell shrugged noncommittally, “family weirdo and failure. the stuff you put on resumés.” sunstreaker said nothing, though he leaned over on the couch to be closer to the little human.

“my sister’s the golden kid, ma loved her. she achieved in everything, blah blah, i was the kid who was convinced that the government watched me via the microwave. not exactly darling child material. it would be more upsetting if i actually gave a shit, i think.” he laid out on the table, propping himself up with his elbows.

“sounds like shit,” sunstreaker chimed in, and roswell snorted. “yeah, a real winner. whatever, i projected my need for a parent onto a cartoon character, which is perfectly normal considering all the other shit i do. just spent last night thinking of them, which my brain very much hated and decided to punish me for.”

sunstreaker hummed in response, familiar with the feeling. “i can go and accidentally fall on their house if you want. sure i could temp the ‘cons into a fight that just happened to be near the area.” roswell grinned at the idea, though she shook her head.

“as fucking stellar as that would be, i think pants prime would be disappointed in you about that. and the dude has a fatherly aura of a home depot dad that has an entire shelf of no.1 dad mugs. would not want to challenge that.” he said as he got up and judged the distance between the table and the couch arm. before he could jump it, sunstreaker had lifted him up and adjusted his position on the couch so that he was laid down, and she was sitting on his chest with the blanket.

“moved out early, moved in with york. he’s the guy whose number i gave to hound. shit sucked for a while but.. i’unno. all that hard shit in my life feels worth it, i guess. it all ended up with me being here with you, y’know?” roswell said, getting comfortable. he took the pillow as the autobot offered it, holding back a yawn.

“yeah. makes sense to me, sweetspark,” sunstreaker’s voice had gone completely soft, no trace of his usual blunt or snarky self. he had a rare soft smile on his face, and roswell smiled back as sunstreaker gently covered him with a hand, essentially cupping her to his chest. “you’re a funny little human, squish. i don’t think very many other humans could be here with me like this.”

“sucks to be them, i guess.” roswell yawned, putting his down head on the pillow,”i think you guys are pretty fucking sick. think you are so goddamn pretty.” roswell grinned sleepily as he felt sunstreakers’ frame shake as the mech laughed, amused at roswell sneaking in a compliment. “tell me i’m wrong! you know just as much as i do that you’re the prettiest mech on base. off base! fuck it, prettiest bot!”

“you’re a little flirt. go to sleep, sweetspark. i’m offshift tomorrow, we’ll go have a nice day. get you all prettied up and go to the beach or something,” sunstreaker said, watching as the human curled up. within moments, roswell had drifted off, leaving sunstreaker to watch over him as she slept on his chest. he took a few moments to commit the sight to memory, enjoying the peaceful sight. without waking her, the yellow bot pulled a datapad from his subspace.

might as well finish that color theory article while he was here.