I really need more than one TFA fanfic icon
But then I'd need to change my others around.
Previously: http://girloz14.livejournal.com/160459.html
Onto part two.
He onlines in a pile of seekers, trapped under three arms. His processor feels like it's about to burn up and ignite at any moment. Frag. There was a reason he didn't indulge in high-grade.
Optimus pushes at the arms on his chest. They're utterly immovable, so he wiggles his way out of the seeker pile, and looks down at himself. He's covered in paint. Looks like he'd been the center of some over-enthusiastic orgy. He flushes.
He starts to pull out a cloth, only to get yanked back into the pile of seekers by Sunstorm, who is half asleep. Checking the time, he sighs; he needs to get up. Rapping his knuckles against Sunstorm's helmet, he winces at the sound, and offlines his audio when Sunstorm shrieks in pain, causing all the other seekers to get up and start shrieking in pain as well.
Optimus frees himself from the squabbling seekers again, managing to get to the washrack without acquiring any grievous bodily injuries or scratches. The seekers are sulking when he gets out a few kliks later, significantly cleaner. He wishes he had a bit of processor-ache cure laying around.
He starts to walk past them, only to get tugged into Ramjet's lap. The seeker's optics are offline, and is just holding him, face buried in his neck. Not really sure what to do, he just holds his head and mutters, "Did any of you bring anything that will get rid of an overcharged processor ache?"
They all shake their heads very slowly, and Thundercracker says, a bit tentative and unusual for his brash personality, "Overloads work very well to help with the pain."
Optimus levels a flat look at him, "We'll just have to deal with the ache."
Ramjet whines against him, clearly unhappy. Patting the seeker gently, he slowly extracts himself from the bot's grip. The mech blinks at him slowly, and pulling out a cleaning cloth, "You can't go to work looking like that."
He raises his servos defensively - he doesn't enjoy having seekers polishing him. It makes him nervous and uncomfortable. "Really, you don't need to clean me. Autobots have much lower standards."
Skywarp sneaks over, along with all the rest, cloth in their servos. "All the more reason we should do it. You need to be clean and presentable when you go out in public." He's pushed back into Ramjet's lap, "You are half of a courting couple, that means you need to show off."
Optimus vents a sigh. He's not going to get out of this. "Alright. Polish away." He pulls a datapad out. He can work on reports while they polish. Non-classified reports, of course. He'd learned his lesson with Starscream.
When they're done, he'd easily be mistake himself for being AllSpark polished if he didn't know any better. Putting his datapad away, he sighs when he looks in the mirror, not really sure why they insisted on this. Sunstorm turns him around, checking every bit of him, "You aren't perfect, but you'll do for now. Don't let anyone touch you."
"Looking this shiny and clean makes bots want to touch," Optimus warns. "And I will be seeing Ultra today."
The seekers prod him gently, managing to avoid mussing his finish. "Don't let him."
He crosses his arms, "I want him to touch me, though."
The seekers all go into a huddle, and Sunstorm steps forward, "I will be going with you, wonderful Optimus, and be keeping you clean through the day."
He raises an optic ridge, "And the fact that Blurr and Bee will be there has nothing to do with it, right?"
The seeker waves a servo dismissively, "Don't be ridiculous, pretty Prime, Bumblebee is at home taking care of Firefly."
"Of course he is," Optimus murmurs. "And you won't be locking yourself in Blurr's office at all, will you?"
Sunstorm smiles brilliantly. "Oh, we never lock that door. Autobots are so very noble and polite. They always knock first."
Optimus shudders, making a mental note to always make sure to wait a little bit before walking into any of the seekers' lovers' offices. "Right." Walking out of the berth room, he frowns at the common room. "All of you are cleaning this up."
They sulk again, but work on cleaning it all up rather efficiently-their obsessive need for cleanliness and order prevents them from leaving a mess like that no matter how much they don't want to clean it. Optimus gets fresh energon cubes for them, "Your reward."
They all exclaim at it, except for Sunstorm, who is used to the insanely modified energon from the dispenser Optimus gave him. Optimus pulls out one of the cubes from his sub-space, happy that he still has some from taking from Ultra's dispenser.
Optimus sips his energon, while the seekers make inappropriate noises over the fancy energon he's given them.
"Oh, Optimus," Ramjet purrs, "I absolutely don't intend to steal your dispenser and take it home with me."
"You can have it if you really want it that badly. I won't stop you." He leans on the counter, only to get shoved off it, and get the scuffs removed by Sunstorm.
Sunstorm turns and shakes a claw at Ramjet, "You can't take his dispenser. Optimus is so noble and kind that he pushes them off on everyone. He'll end up with no dispenser at all, and we cannot have that."
Ramjet pouts. "I didn't even want it."
Optimus sighs, "You can ask Sari to upgrade yours, you know. She's the reason I can't get normal energon now. She doesn't even do it on purpose, the AllSpark just changes them around her now."
"I want her to do it to mine first!" Dirge whines, fluttering his wings in frustration. "My twins need this."
Ramjet pushes him hard, "I asked first. You have to wait."
Checking the time, Optimus heads to the door. "Okay. Everyone out. I have to go to work, and you all have sparklings to take care of."
The seekers all put the cubes away, and walk to the door. Sunstorm puts a single claw on his shoulder, "I will be coming with you, to make certain you stay as clean as I know you can."
"We don't need chaperons at this point, Sunstorm."
Sunstorm crosses his arms over his chest, unimpressed, "You have amazing willpower, Optimus, but we spent the night teaching you how to interface. It would not be wise leaving you all alone."
He shudders, "I'm not going to let Ultra shove me on the desk and let him have his way with me, just because you did that, Sunstorm."
All the seekers share a look, "He does not have your willpower, nor an AllSpark shard to tell him no. I will be with you in your office." When Optimus looks like he's going to protest, Sunstorm continues, "We could all go with you, if that's what you really want."
Primus, no. "I'm fine with just you, Sunstorm. The rest of you have families to attend to, and work, I'm sure." He smiles, baring his denta. "So, we will see you later. Have a pleasant solar cycle." He shoos them all out of his apartment, until only Sunstorm remains. "We are never going to speak of what happened last night."
Sunstorm nods sadly, "It was utterly shameful. You didn't even ope- glitching Allspark." The seeker clutches his cockpit, glaring down at it, "What if that damaged my sparkling, AllSpark? Do you really want that?"
Clunk clunk clunk!
Sunstorm clutches at his chest, "Ouch, oh, little sparkling, did you have to start kicking me now? Right after the AllSpark stung me?" At Optimus's concerned look, Sunstorm waves him off, "It'll be alright. He gets like this sometimes."
Patting the seeker on the shoulder, he heads out to wait for the elevator, "What calms a kicking sparkling down?"
Sunstorm winces at a particularly loud clang. "Sari mainly. Sometimes overloads work, but that's not always the case. If you have a high energy sparkling like mine are, it just makes them kick harder."
"We can com Sari after we reach Autobot Command," Optimus offers, and they walk out to the elevator together. "She'd be willing to come help, I'm positive of it." His processor still aches terribly, and he fully intends to raid the medical supplies in his office.
Sunstorm nods gratefully, and winces as the sparkling keeps kicking. "That'd be helpful."
Patting the seeker's frame, Optimus frowns, "Will you be able to transform and fly when he is doing that?"
"Of course. He tends to settle down a little when I'm in the air," Sunstorm confides. "I think he likes it up there better than on the ground." He rubs his cockpit slowly, "Though I admit to sometimes wishing I could administer a sedative to him."
Optimus pats his cockpit, but pulls away quickly when the sparkling kicks directly where he had his servo, "He's very determined to cause damage, isn't he?"
Sunstorm nods sadly, "I have dents in my chamber."
"We can have Ratchet look at you later," he comforts, and they transform outside-Sunstorm with a loud, relieved sigh.
"I'd fly with him all solar cycle long if I could manage it." The seeker hovers above him as they roll to Autobot Command, and Optimus opens a comlink with Sari.
"Sari?"
Her voice is scratchy and groggy, "Oh dear God, stop yelling."
He lowers his voice, "Are you okay?"
"Kinda hungover, actually. Did you know that Ultra called last night to make sure that the seekers weren't facing you?"
Optimus swerves wildly, and has to force himself back on track. "He what?"
"Yeah. And I got to talk to the AllSpark about it. And teach Cyclonus how to drink vodka. Fucking bastard doesn't even have a hangover today, I bet."
He blinks his light in confusion, "Why did you teach Cyclonus to drink vodka?"
She actually sounds excited as she talks, "He was curious about it! He's never curious about anything. He tried all my alcohol, even the stuff that would make a human blind and horribly ill. It was great!"
"I'll take your word on it. I take it that Perceptor's code-fixes have been working?"
"Oh, yeah. Not a huge change, but still. Showing an interest in something is like, major for him." Optimus can picture Sari bouncing around at this, and he smiles.
"That's fantastic. You could bring him by today, if you like. I was hoping you could come and help with Sunstorm. His sparkling is very kicky today."
"Sure. Is he going to be in Autobot headquarters?"
"He is. He said that he needs to keep me clean and Ultra away from me."
There's a bark of laughter, "He's right. All the more reason I should be there to help him with his sparkling." There's a pause, "I planned on visiting Percy, anyway. The sciencebots wanted me to upgrade their dispenser. May as well do it today."
Optimus spins his wheels a little faster, "I'm sure they'll appreciate that. And I know Sunstorm would appreciate the help." He doesn't appreciate them keeping Ultra away. But it's a small price to pay for the happiness and comfort of others. And he'll find some time to be alone with him at some point. Perhaps he'll find a reason to stay over at Ultra's home again.
Sunstorm buzzes above his roof, "Tell her that the other seekers want her to help with their dispensers, I don't think they have her frequency."
He passes on the message, and she responds, "Well, I'm sure I can do that, too. I'm just kind of surprised that you didn't just give them yours. Like you always do."
"Sunstorm stopped me."
"He's sensible like that."
Optimus laughs. "We'll see you at Command Headquarters, Sari." He disconnects the call, and continues on in companionable silence with Sunstorm.
He's at least a breem late when he arrives, and he plans to put a notice on his own file for it later. Tardiness without a good reason isn't acceptable, and I partied hard with seekers isn't a good excuse.
He steps into his office, and starts to work. Ignoring the seeker lying across his desk, he fills out his reports. After about a klick, he starts to pet Sunstorm's cockpit to sooth the sparkling's kicking.
There's a knock on his door, and Optimus calls out, "Come in."
It's a secretarybot Optimus has only seen a few times-from several floors away. He has a datapad that needs Optimus's signature, which is strange. He's never had a secretarybot bring a pad directly to him. Reading the pad, he notes it's a simple request for supplies that really should have gone to a different part of the department. He signs it anyway, deeply puzzled.
When the bot leaves, Sunstorm snickers, "I told you. Autobots always knock." There's a loud clang, and the seeker winces. Petting him again, the sparkling calms down.
"That's not a bad thing, you know."
The bot waves a tired servo, "I know. I like that they give warning."
Three more bots visit him over the next several breems, leaving Optimus confused. Why the slag did they suddenly feel the need to get reports signed and finished on time? Normally, he had to prod them for ages, and then give up and do the work himself.
He shakes his head and smiles brightly when the next guest proves to be Sari.
She steps in, Cyclonus following her obediently, and walks directly over to his desk. She lets the jetbot pick her up and set her on the seeker's cockpit before she starts talking. "Is he being angry today?"
Sunstorm relaxes the moment she runs a hand along his windows, "He started kicking when my shard zapped me."
She raises an eyebrow, but doesn't stop petting the bot, "And what did you do to make the AllSpark punish you?"
He mumbles his answer.
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
Optimus looks between the two of them. "You know, have you considered trying a medical charge sharing with Sari? Her energy might calm your sparkling down in a way that a normal transference does not."
Sunstorm gives Sari a distinctly dirty smile, and she walks across the bot's chest to slap him in the face, all insult. "Because seekers are incapable of keeping something like that medical."
Optimus taps his fingers on his desk. "You could always knock him out first."
"Pft," Sari waves her servo at him, "like that'd work. Second I get some energy into him, he'd be back online and pervy as possible."
He sighs, "You have a point." There's another knock at the door, "Come in."
It's another secretarybot with a datapad.
Sari sits on Sunstorm's chest, while Cyclonus stares blankly at the wall.
"Can I help you?" Optimus prompts the secretarybot, when he stands in place and stares at the bots with wide optics.
"Yes, sir, I was just wondering if you could sign this for me?" he offers the pad, and Optimus takes it.
He vents a sigh. "I'm afraid I cannot. You need your manager's signature on this. I don't have authority in this department."
The bot takes it back nervously, "Oh, sorry sir." And takes off out the door.
Optimus looks out after him, and shakes his head. "At least they're working, even if it means they're bugging me."
Sari gives him a disbelieving look, "They most likely saw a seeker join you in your office, and are wondering if you're breaking your courting."
"That's ridiculous, Sari. I would never break my courtship with Ultra. Certainly not for the seekers who traumatized me last night." He shudders. "They showed me video. Video of Windburner self-servicing."
Sari pats him on the face, "That is horrifying. I don't get all your robo-porn. It is a ball of energy and you use wires to connect. How is that even sexy?"
He couldn't help but think that Sari was missing the point. "It was Windburner, Sari. Windburner. I have to work with him. I see him at least every other solar cycle to discuss staff schedules. How the slag am I supposed to look him in the optics now?"
"Easily," Sunstorm smiles broadly. "Especially now that you know what a lovely little spark he has under his plates."
Optimus shudders, and Sari rolls her eyes as she talks, "Its a ball of energy. I don't see how you guys see any difference other than size."
There's another knock at the door as Sunstorm shakes his head, "There's a certain patterning that is unique to every bot."
Optimus isn't sure if he should allow whoever it is in as they keep talking. "What patterns? There is blue on blue on blue," the door opens and another secretarybot walks in with a datapad, "on blue with an electrical discharge."
Ignoring the sercretarybot's confused look, he glances through the pad as Sunstorm explains, using his claws to gesture as if he's petting a spark, "It has a very wonderful feel under your claws."
Sari shakes her head, "No way. They all look the fragging same, and they all probably feel that way too. Except maybe for you guys, with your shard fragments."
"Priestess," Sunstorm scolds lightly, "you of all bots should be able to tell sparks apart. Perhaps you are simply being adorable and modest about your abilities?"
"There is no difference. At all. Why would you think the AllSpark talking to me all the damn time would change that? It can't even get me to think a bot is pretty. I'm just thankful it has stopped pointing out bots that want to 'face me." She makes a disgusted face, "Especially since most did, even if it was them only reacting to my size and armor."
Optimus tries to shoo the secretarybot out, since he's finished with his datapad, but the bot stands, transfixed. He vents a sigh.
Sunstorm pets Sari's head, "You are adorable and tiny, Priestess. You can't blame us for enjoying this fact."
"I can when they were calling me a whore!" She glares down at the bot.
Optimus winces, and so do the secretarybot and Sunstorm. The Seeker runs a claw down her side, "You are blessed by the AllSpark, Priestess."
His claw gets shoved rudely away. "You just shut up about the AllSpark right now. We are not on good terms, not after last night."
Optimus wonders what the AllSpark was harassing her with while he was being given ... Primus, he doesn't want to remember what he did last night. Especially not being posed indecently on various seekers.
Sunstorm huffs, "I didn't get punished by the AllSpark for anything last night."
She pokes him in the cockpit, "But you did this morning. That's even worse. You don't even have the excuse of highgrade like Skywarp."
Optimus finally manages to get the secretarybot out the door, locking it firmly behind him. He hopes the bot doesn't go spreading gossip.
"We were all overcharged," Optimus interjects, trying to stop their squabbling. "And I am doing my best to purge the entire event from my processor."
Sari taps her foot, "They're just lucky the AllSpark thinks they're funny. If it was any other bot, there would have been a broken courtship we'd have to deal with."
Optimus gives her a horrified look, "I'd never-"
She waves at him dismissively, "I'm saying that normally giving you sex-ed would have meant the AllSpark gets upset."
"And we would never want to upset the all-powerful AllSpark," Sunstorm hums. "Not even when letting you leave this morning without so much as a kiss breaks all of our traditions."
The datapads are looking more and more enticing with every passing klik. Optimus would really like to read them now. Alone.
Sari gives the seeker a dirty look, "AllSpark doesn't give the slightest bit of a damn about your traditions when it comes to a courting couple." She leans against the cockpit windows, "I could just leave you to your fussy sparkling, you know."
Sunstorm pouts a bit. "Alright. I apologize. It's still not fair that it wouldn't even let us show him what a shard fragment felt like against his servo. What if he has to perform emergency maintenance some solar cycle? He shouldn't be surprised by how different it feels."
She looks at him for a moment, then says flatly, "Cyclonus." The jetbot looks up at her. "Slap him."
The bot gives her an almost amused look, says, "Yes, Sari," stands up, walks over, and slaps Sunstorm right across the face.
He's about to go sit down when Sari stops him, "And what did he learn from this, Cyclonus?"
The jetbot looks just a tiny bit more amused, "That the AllSpark does not approve of lies?"
"Very good, Cyclonus. Go back to doing what you want." He goes back to sitting on the floor, but is turned so he's watching them now, and Sari continues, "Now then, Sunstorm. Are you going to do that again?"
He rubs his faceplates, "No. I have learned my lesson, and I am glad to have been taught it by such a kind and wise Autobot."
Things get substantially more chaotic when Perceptor, Wheeljack, and Red Alert burst into his office. Optimus stares at the door. He could have sworn he had locked it.
The sciencebots march up to him, and Red Alert shoves a picture in his face, "Look what she did to our twins!"
Taking the picture so he can actually focus on it, he blinks in surprise at the see-through sparkplates on the twins. "Jetstorm looks like he's wearing a version of the plate I was onlined with."
"I don't care if they're the plates Primus himself was onlined with," Red Alert hisses. "They don't belong on our twins! They're alive, and Slipstream has them hidden somewhere!"
Perceptor holds out another datapad. "The images came with a note, where they claim to have run off with her of their own initiative, and apologize for not contacting us before now."
Sari walks over and takes the pictures from his fingers, and he takes the datapad with the note. Reading through it, he nods, "I am fairly certain that they didn't run off on their own, but they most likely think they did by now."
Sunstorm scoffs, "Who wouldn't want to run off with Slipstream?"
Sari hits the seeker on the window, almost absently, "You didn't."
"She made it clear that she did not enjoy spending time with us," Sunstorm says, almost mournfully.
One image shows Jetfire and Jetstorm inches away from kissing each other, optic dimmed, servos resting on each others' sparkplates. Sari holds it up, "At least they look pretty happy. And the AllSpark seems okay with it."
Cyclonus actually gets up and stands beside her as she flips through the pictures, while Red Alert slams her servos on the desk, "I don't care that the AllSpark approves! We haven't heard from them in over a stellar cycle, and this is what we get?"
Optimus takes the pads, copies the files, and hands the copies back to the other bots. He studies the images quickly, but Slipstream is good at what she does. There are no identifying markers that he can find in any picture. There is one picture that makes him pause.
"Well, I believe we've discovered where Skyshot disappeared to, after the war."
The picture is of the twins hugging Skyshot as the minibot glares at the camera. Perceptor sighs at it, "As if Shockwave didn't have enough reason to harass us."
Optimus intends to take the pads down for analysis, when his door abruptly opens again, and Ultra comes in. Optimus's enormous office is starting to feel crowded.
"Optimus, why did the seekers send me images of you licking energon off your servos?"
Not even looking at Ultra, Optimus turns to Sunstorm. "See? Not all Autobots knock first." He pauses, "Granted, Ultra normally does. I'm not really sure why he didn't this time."
His intended gives him a confused look, slightly derailed at the comment. "I was going to, but it just opened up before I could. But that isn't what I'm here to talk about! Seekers sending me video of you. Explain."
Perceptor points a finger at Wheeljack. "The automated systems on the base dislike him. I believe the low-level AI thinks he will explode any door that attempts to remain locked in his presence."
That sounded about right.
Optimus makes another copy of the files and hands it to Ultra, "We have more important things to worry about than my overcharged escapades."
Ultra looks through the files, and frowns, "Can we track them through this?"
Wheeljack shakes his head, and Optimus takes this opportunity to start putting his work away in his sub-space, "No, Slipstream is very good at what she does."
"Slipstream loves them," Sunstorm adds, entirely unhelpfully. "Or she wouldn't have put them in such pretty plates."
This sparks an argument that gives Optimus the chance to leave the room silently.
Flipping through the datapads, he hands some that he's finished to Cliffjumper. "If anyone asks for me, I'm still in my office."
The minibot raises an optic ridge, "And when they go in and see you're not?"
Optimus smiles, "Then I must have taken a break. I was just there. Clearly, I'll be back in a few kliks. And if they harass you about it, tell them they are perfectly capable of solving it themselves, if all the bots coming into my office are any indication."
"And if Ultra asks after you?"
Optimus rests a finger against his mouth, thinking. "You don't know where I am. I will have my com off save for your frequency. Please only use it if there is an emergency."
Cliffjumper nods hesitantly, then asks, "You aren't doing anything you aren't supposed to, are you?"
He sighs, "I plan on hiding and working. I'm supposed to do work in my office."
The minibot smiles and waves him off, "Go do that, sir. I thought so, but it is nice to know for sure."
Optimus leaves him behind, and drops the datapads off at the lab several floors down. "Please analyze these. We're not expecting much, but it is vital that you bump these up the priority list." The lab techs all nod and promise him they'll work on it, and Optimus goes down several floors more, to find a utility closet that never gets used.
He settles himself up on a high shelf with good lighting, and pulls out his datapads.
It is several megacycles later that he gets a com from Cliffjumper, making him jump. "Sir?"
Looking down at the door, he's pleased to note that no one seems to be outside of it, "Yes, Cliffjumper?"
"It is midday. You should drink a cube of energon."
Optimus smiles, glad to be reminded, "Thank you. If you hadn't told me, I'd never drink anything."
He sips at a cube of energon - he's planning on getting more from Ultra's home soon. And never informing Sari about it, for fear of her upgrading his new favorite dispenser. He'd grown fond of the only dispenser that gave him normal energon anymore.
Even the take-out stand he'd loved visiting had begun to give him better and better grades.
Sighing, he finishes the cube, and returns to work.
A little while later, he's looks up to the sound of a thump on the door. There's a lot of giggling, and a rattling of the door. He's just about to get up and open it, possibly to tell the ones there to leave, but the sound stops, and he returns to what he was doing.
It's many megacycles later when Cliffjumper coms him again.
"Sir, you need to go home. You've already clocked in a ridiculous amount of overtime this week alone."
Optimus frowns. "I take as much time as I need to finish the work."
"You think we don't know you're taking the datapads home with you? Are you ever not working, other than when Ultra is taking you on dates?"
He looks down at the large pile of datapads next to him and in his sub-space, "Sometimes I'm with my team?"
There's an exasperated sigh, "Do you know how much actual work there is to do, Optimus?"
He looks at the datapad in his servo, "More than anyone actually does?"
"No, Optimus. You have been doing a ridiculous amount of it since you got here. We don't have a large amount in the first place, and you're doing almost all of it because you don't seem used to the fact that there is a lot of dead time and very little to do."
"But," he stares at the pad again, "there's always work to be done. I leave every day with datapads that have been abandoned and unfinished. If I leave them here, they stay unfinished for weeks. It only takes a megacycle or so to complete them."
"Yeah, and it's other bots' jobs to do them." Cliffjumper sounds somewhere between amused and irritated. "And I'd appreciate if you stop taking pads from my desk."
He clutches the pad, "But I want something to do."
"And so do I. You take all of my work, except for filing. I'd like to have something to do other than calling up a bot to hand it off to, telling bots they can't bug you or Ultra, and playing a video game."
Optimus shakes his head to himself. "I'll take less pads from you. But I intend to stay busy. Someone has to do this work eventually, and if I'm capable, I intend to do it." He'd seen some of the lower level staff here-they had been genuinely busy with various files. If he can take some of that load off of them, he will.
There's an irritated huff, "You'll take no pads from me, unless I give them to you. Don't think I don't know about you sneaking down to help file things. You can't do that. Do you know how much extra work you give them? You're using a filing system they don't even know."
"They've never complained to me before." If he'd been filing things wrong, surely someone would have told him to stop, and explained the proper filing techniques.
"You're second in command, Optimus. They're not going to tell you to stop."
He puts his datapads in his sub-space, "But I told them to tell me if I was doing it wrong they could tell me."
"Optimus, think about who had your job before you."
He pauses, then frowns, "Sentinel."
"Exactly."
Optimus taps his fingers against his hip in thought. "But I don't want bots frightened of my temper. The worst I ever did, even when Bumblebee or the others outright disobeyed my orders, was write them up and give a few extra shifts as punishment."
"While Sentinel exiled Seaquake for reacting to energon being thrown at him and getting cursed at and insulted. There's a reason bots just go along with whatever you say, sir. We're fairly used to just letting things go."
"You shouldn't have to be like that," Optimus insists firmly. "And I'm going to make sure bots realize that. Tomorrow, I expect you to come down while I'm filing, and tell me I'm doing it wrong. Be rude about it. I don't want my staff frightened of unfair reprimands."
There's a sigh, "If that's what you want, but it is just going to send the message that you're nice to family."
He slips off the shelf, "Then you should also tell the bots that they are allowed to tell me these things, since they won't listen to me."
"I'm with Shockwave. They don't trust me the way they trust the rest of the secretarybots."
Optimus frowns. "Very well. I'm just going to have to win them over slowly. Eventually, they'll realize that I'm not going to abuse my position."
"You're showing it, but they're still getting used to it." There's a pause, and his voice turns slightly accusing, "Have you been working the entire time I've been talking to you?"
Optimus opens the door, and lets out a bark of laughter, "No. I was cleaning up the datapads. I want to drop everything off, then I'm heading home."
"No, Optimus. You and I are the only ones here. Go home."
He vents a long sigh. "Alright. I'm going." If he shows up on Ultra's doorstep, will the other bot invite him in for the night? He transforms and drives towards his apartment. He'd rather not take the risk there. It was slagging late. Ultra might be in recharge already.
He waves at the securitybot when he enters the building, and heads on up. When he enters, he's slightly surprised to find Blurr recharging on his couch. Fairly certain that the bot was there to talk to him, since if he just wanted a place that isn't home to sleep Blurr knows he can use a guest room, Optimus puts a servo on the blue bot's shoulder, and shakes him gently to wake him up.
Blurr blinks rapidly, sitting upright. "Optimus,-sir,-I-wanted-to," he shakes himself, "I-wanted-to-ask-if-my-Seeker-not-that-he's-actually-my-Seeker,-I-don't-own-him-but-if-he'd-done-anything-inappropriate-to-you-last-night.-Is-the-courtship-in-danger?"
Looking down at the carbot, Optimus shakes his head, "The courtship is fine, Blurr. Whenever they got out of line, the AllSpark would zap them. Sari said that it allowed them doing that because it thought it was funny. You could have just asked her this, you know."
"I-wanted-to-hear-it-from-you," Blurr insists, getting up to pace back and forth. "I-know-you-have-the-chance-to-accept-offers-from-other-bots-during-the-final-decacycle-of-your-courtship,-and-I-know-I-have-no-right-to-ask-this,-but-I-would-prefer-you-not-accept-the-offer-I-know-Sunstorm-is-going-to-make."
Pulling the bot over to stop his pacing, Optimus shakes his head in amusement, and wraps his arms around Blurr in a gentle hug, "I'm not going to accept any offer. I would never try to do that to you." He rests his forehead against the other bot's, "I'm happy with Ultra."
"Thank-you,-Optimus," Blurr says, and then looks around the room. "Do-you-mind-if-I-recharge-here-tonight?-Bee-and-Sunstorm-wanted-to-show-Firefly-movies-all-night."
Optimus winces at the idea of trying to sleep when a pair of seekers is singing Disney songs. "As long as you sleep in one of the guest rooms. The couch is no place to spend the night."
Blurr nods, and allows himself to be led into a guest room, where he promptly collapses on a berth, falling almost instantly into recharge. Optimus is bemused. It must be difficult being such a high-energy bot.
He leaves the bot behind, and heads for his own berth. He has an early shift at work the following day, and needs his recharge.
Previously: http://girloz14.livejournal.com/160459.html
Onto part two.
He onlines in a pile of seekers, trapped under three arms. His processor feels like it's about to burn up and ignite at any moment. Frag. There was a reason he didn't indulge in high-grade.
Optimus pushes at the arms on his chest. They're utterly immovable, so he wiggles his way out of the seeker pile, and looks down at himself. He's covered in paint. Looks like he'd been the center of some over-enthusiastic orgy. He flushes.
He starts to pull out a cloth, only to get yanked back into the pile of seekers by Sunstorm, who is half asleep. Checking the time, he sighs; he needs to get up. Rapping his knuckles against Sunstorm's helmet, he winces at the sound, and offlines his audio when Sunstorm shrieks in pain, causing all the other seekers to get up and start shrieking in pain as well.
Optimus frees himself from the squabbling seekers again, managing to get to the washrack without acquiring any grievous bodily injuries or scratches. The seekers are sulking when he gets out a few kliks later, significantly cleaner. He wishes he had a bit of processor-ache cure laying around.
He starts to walk past them, only to get tugged into Ramjet's lap. The seeker's optics are offline, and is just holding him, face buried in his neck. Not really sure what to do, he just holds his head and mutters, "Did any of you bring anything that will get rid of an overcharged processor ache?"
They all shake their heads very slowly, and Thundercracker says, a bit tentative and unusual for his brash personality, "Overloads work very well to help with the pain."
Optimus levels a flat look at him, "We'll just have to deal with the ache."
Ramjet whines against him, clearly unhappy. Patting the seeker gently, he slowly extracts himself from the bot's grip. The mech blinks at him slowly, and pulling out a cleaning cloth, "You can't go to work looking like that."
He raises his servos defensively - he doesn't enjoy having seekers polishing him. It makes him nervous and uncomfortable. "Really, you don't need to clean me. Autobots have much lower standards."
Skywarp sneaks over, along with all the rest, cloth in their servos. "All the more reason we should do it. You need to be clean and presentable when you go out in public." He's pushed back into Ramjet's lap, "You are half of a courting couple, that means you need to show off."
Optimus vents a sigh. He's not going to get out of this. "Alright. Polish away." He pulls a datapad out. He can work on reports while they polish. Non-classified reports, of course. He'd learned his lesson with Starscream.
When they're done, he'd easily be mistake himself for being AllSpark polished if he didn't know any better. Putting his datapad away, he sighs when he looks in the mirror, not really sure why they insisted on this. Sunstorm turns him around, checking every bit of him, "You aren't perfect, but you'll do for now. Don't let anyone touch you."
"Looking this shiny and clean makes bots want to touch," Optimus warns. "And I will be seeing Ultra today."
The seekers prod him gently, managing to avoid mussing his finish. "Don't let him."
He crosses his arms, "I want him to touch me, though."
The seekers all go into a huddle, and Sunstorm steps forward, "I will be going with you, wonderful Optimus, and be keeping you clean through the day."
He raises an optic ridge, "And the fact that Blurr and Bee will be there has nothing to do with it, right?"
The seeker waves a servo dismissively, "Don't be ridiculous, pretty Prime, Bumblebee is at home taking care of Firefly."
"Of course he is," Optimus murmurs. "And you won't be locking yourself in Blurr's office at all, will you?"
Sunstorm smiles brilliantly. "Oh, we never lock that door. Autobots are so very noble and polite. They always knock first."
Optimus shudders, making a mental note to always make sure to wait a little bit before walking into any of the seekers' lovers' offices. "Right." Walking out of the berth room, he frowns at the common room. "All of you are cleaning this up."
They sulk again, but work on cleaning it all up rather efficiently-their obsessive need for cleanliness and order prevents them from leaving a mess like that no matter how much they don't want to clean it. Optimus gets fresh energon cubes for them, "Your reward."
They all exclaim at it, except for Sunstorm, who is used to the insanely modified energon from the dispenser Optimus gave him. Optimus pulls out one of the cubes from his sub-space, happy that he still has some from taking from Ultra's dispenser.
Optimus sips his energon, while the seekers make inappropriate noises over the fancy energon he's given them.
"Oh, Optimus," Ramjet purrs, "I absolutely don't intend to steal your dispenser and take it home with me."
"You can have it if you really want it that badly. I won't stop you." He leans on the counter, only to get shoved off it, and get the scuffs removed by Sunstorm.
Sunstorm turns and shakes a claw at Ramjet, "You can't take his dispenser. Optimus is so noble and kind that he pushes them off on everyone. He'll end up with no dispenser at all, and we cannot have that."
Ramjet pouts. "I didn't even want it."
Optimus sighs, "You can ask Sari to upgrade yours, you know. She's the reason I can't get normal energon now. She doesn't even do it on purpose, the AllSpark just changes them around her now."
"I want her to do it to mine first!" Dirge whines, fluttering his wings in frustration. "My twins need this."
Ramjet pushes him hard, "I asked first. You have to wait."
Checking the time, Optimus heads to the door. "Okay. Everyone out. I have to go to work, and you all have sparklings to take care of."
The seekers all put the cubes away, and walk to the door. Sunstorm puts a single claw on his shoulder, "I will be coming with you, to make certain you stay as clean as I know you can."
"We don't need chaperons at this point, Sunstorm."
Sunstorm crosses his arms over his chest, unimpressed, "You have amazing willpower, Optimus, but we spent the night teaching you how to interface. It would not be wise leaving you all alone."
He shudders, "I'm not going to let Ultra shove me on the desk and let him have his way with me, just because you did that, Sunstorm."
All the seekers share a look, "He does not have your willpower, nor an AllSpark shard to tell him no. I will be with you in your office." When Optimus looks like he's going to protest, Sunstorm continues, "We could all go with you, if that's what you really want."
Primus, no. "I'm fine with just you, Sunstorm. The rest of you have families to attend to, and work, I'm sure." He smiles, baring his denta. "So, we will see you later. Have a pleasant solar cycle." He shoos them all out of his apartment, until only Sunstorm remains. "We are never going to speak of what happened last night."
Sunstorm nods sadly, "It was utterly shameful. You didn't even ope- glitching Allspark." The seeker clutches his cockpit, glaring down at it, "What if that damaged my sparkling, AllSpark? Do you really want that?"
Clunk clunk clunk!
Sunstorm clutches at his chest, "Ouch, oh, little sparkling, did you have to start kicking me now? Right after the AllSpark stung me?" At Optimus's concerned look, Sunstorm waves him off, "It'll be alright. He gets like this sometimes."
Patting the seeker on the shoulder, he heads out to wait for the elevator, "What calms a kicking sparkling down?"
Sunstorm winces at a particularly loud clang. "Sari mainly. Sometimes overloads work, but that's not always the case. If you have a high energy sparkling like mine are, it just makes them kick harder."
"We can com Sari after we reach Autobot Command," Optimus offers, and they walk out to the elevator together. "She'd be willing to come help, I'm positive of it." His processor still aches terribly, and he fully intends to raid the medical supplies in his office.
Sunstorm nods gratefully, and winces as the sparkling keeps kicking. "That'd be helpful."
Patting the seeker's frame, Optimus frowns, "Will you be able to transform and fly when he is doing that?"
"Of course. He tends to settle down a little when I'm in the air," Sunstorm confides. "I think he likes it up there better than on the ground." He rubs his cockpit slowly, "Though I admit to sometimes wishing I could administer a sedative to him."
Optimus pats his cockpit, but pulls away quickly when the sparkling kicks directly where he had his servo, "He's very determined to cause damage, isn't he?"
Sunstorm nods sadly, "I have dents in my chamber."
"We can have Ratchet look at you later," he comforts, and they transform outside-Sunstorm with a loud, relieved sigh.
"I'd fly with him all solar cycle long if I could manage it." The seeker hovers above him as they roll to Autobot Command, and Optimus opens a comlink with Sari.
"Sari?"
Her voice is scratchy and groggy, "Oh dear God, stop yelling."
He lowers his voice, "Are you okay?"
"Kinda hungover, actually. Did you know that Ultra called last night to make sure that the seekers weren't facing you?"
Optimus swerves wildly, and has to force himself back on track. "He what?"
"Yeah. And I got to talk to the AllSpark about it. And teach Cyclonus how to drink vodka. Fucking bastard doesn't even have a hangover today, I bet."
He blinks his light in confusion, "Why did you teach Cyclonus to drink vodka?"
She actually sounds excited as she talks, "He was curious about it! He's never curious about anything. He tried all my alcohol, even the stuff that would make a human blind and horribly ill. It was great!"
"I'll take your word on it. I take it that Perceptor's code-fixes have been working?"
"Oh, yeah. Not a huge change, but still. Showing an interest in something is like, major for him." Optimus can picture Sari bouncing around at this, and he smiles.
"That's fantastic. You could bring him by today, if you like. I was hoping you could come and help with Sunstorm. His sparkling is very kicky today."
"Sure. Is he going to be in Autobot headquarters?"
"He is. He said that he needs to keep me clean and Ultra away from me."
There's a bark of laughter, "He's right. All the more reason I should be there to help him with his sparkling." There's a pause, "I planned on visiting Percy, anyway. The sciencebots wanted me to upgrade their dispenser. May as well do it today."
Optimus spins his wheels a little faster, "I'm sure they'll appreciate that. And I know Sunstorm would appreciate the help." He doesn't appreciate them keeping Ultra away. But it's a small price to pay for the happiness and comfort of others. And he'll find some time to be alone with him at some point. Perhaps he'll find a reason to stay over at Ultra's home again.
Sunstorm buzzes above his roof, "Tell her that the other seekers want her to help with their dispensers, I don't think they have her frequency."
He passes on the message, and she responds, "Well, I'm sure I can do that, too. I'm just kind of surprised that you didn't just give them yours. Like you always do."
"Sunstorm stopped me."
"He's sensible like that."
Optimus laughs. "We'll see you at Command Headquarters, Sari." He disconnects the call, and continues on in companionable silence with Sunstorm.
He's at least a breem late when he arrives, and he plans to put a notice on his own file for it later. Tardiness without a good reason isn't acceptable, and I partied hard with seekers isn't a good excuse.
He steps into his office, and starts to work. Ignoring the seeker lying across his desk, he fills out his reports. After about a klick, he starts to pet Sunstorm's cockpit to sooth the sparkling's kicking.
There's a knock on his door, and Optimus calls out, "Come in."
It's a secretarybot Optimus has only seen a few times-from several floors away. He has a datapad that needs Optimus's signature, which is strange. He's never had a secretarybot bring a pad directly to him. Reading the pad, he notes it's a simple request for supplies that really should have gone to a different part of the department. He signs it anyway, deeply puzzled.
When the bot leaves, Sunstorm snickers, "I told you. Autobots always knock." There's a loud clang, and the seeker winces. Petting him again, the sparkling calms down.
"That's not a bad thing, you know."
The bot waves a tired servo, "I know. I like that they give warning."
Three more bots visit him over the next several breems, leaving Optimus confused. Why the slag did they suddenly feel the need to get reports signed and finished on time? Normally, he had to prod them for ages, and then give up and do the work himself.
He shakes his head and smiles brightly when the next guest proves to be Sari.
She steps in, Cyclonus following her obediently, and walks directly over to his desk. She lets the jetbot pick her up and set her on the seeker's cockpit before she starts talking. "Is he being angry today?"
Sunstorm relaxes the moment she runs a hand along his windows, "He started kicking when my shard zapped me."
She raises an eyebrow, but doesn't stop petting the bot, "And what did you do to make the AllSpark punish you?"
He mumbles his answer.
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
Optimus looks between the two of them. "You know, have you considered trying a medical charge sharing with Sari? Her energy might calm your sparkling down in a way that a normal transference does not."
Sunstorm gives Sari a distinctly dirty smile, and she walks across the bot's chest to slap him in the face, all insult. "Because seekers are incapable of keeping something like that medical."
Optimus taps his fingers on his desk. "You could always knock him out first."
"Pft," Sari waves her servo at him, "like that'd work. Second I get some energy into him, he'd be back online and pervy as possible."
He sighs, "You have a point." There's another knock at the door, "Come in."
It's another secretarybot with a datapad.
Sari sits on Sunstorm's chest, while Cyclonus stares blankly at the wall.
"Can I help you?" Optimus prompts the secretarybot, when he stands in place and stares at the bots with wide optics.
"Yes, sir, I was just wondering if you could sign this for me?" he offers the pad, and Optimus takes it.
He vents a sigh. "I'm afraid I cannot. You need your manager's signature on this. I don't have authority in this department."
The bot takes it back nervously, "Oh, sorry sir." And takes off out the door.
Optimus looks out after him, and shakes his head. "At least they're working, even if it means they're bugging me."
Sari gives him a disbelieving look, "They most likely saw a seeker join you in your office, and are wondering if you're breaking your courting."
"That's ridiculous, Sari. I would never break my courtship with Ultra. Certainly not for the seekers who traumatized me last night." He shudders. "They showed me video. Video of Windburner self-servicing."
Sari pats him on the face, "That is horrifying. I don't get all your robo-porn. It is a ball of energy and you use wires to connect. How is that even sexy?"
He couldn't help but think that Sari was missing the point. "It was Windburner, Sari. Windburner. I have to work with him. I see him at least every other solar cycle to discuss staff schedules. How the slag am I supposed to look him in the optics now?"
"Easily," Sunstorm smiles broadly. "Especially now that you know what a lovely little spark he has under his plates."
Optimus shudders, and Sari rolls her eyes as she talks, "Its a ball of energy. I don't see how you guys see any difference other than size."
There's another knock at the door as Sunstorm shakes his head, "There's a certain patterning that is unique to every bot."
Optimus isn't sure if he should allow whoever it is in as they keep talking. "What patterns? There is blue on blue on blue," the door opens and another secretarybot walks in with a datapad, "on blue with an electrical discharge."
Ignoring the sercretarybot's confused look, he glances through the pad as Sunstorm explains, using his claws to gesture as if he's petting a spark, "It has a very wonderful feel under your claws."
Sari shakes her head, "No way. They all look the fragging same, and they all probably feel that way too. Except maybe for you guys, with your shard fragments."
"Priestess," Sunstorm scolds lightly, "you of all bots should be able to tell sparks apart. Perhaps you are simply being adorable and modest about your abilities?"
"There is no difference. At all. Why would you think the AllSpark talking to me all the damn time would change that? It can't even get me to think a bot is pretty. I'm just thankful it has stopped pointing out bots that want to 'face me." She makes a disgusted face, "Especially since most did, even if it was them only reacting to my size and armor."
Optimus tries to shoo the secretarybot out, since he's finished with his datapad, but the bot stands, transfixed. He vents a sigh.
Sunstorm pets Sari's head, "You are adorable and tiny, Priestess. You can't blame us for enjoying this fact."
"I can when they were calling me a whore!" She glares down at the bot.
Optimus winces, and so do the secretarybot and Sunstorm. The Seeker runs a claw down her side, "You are blessed by the AllSpark, Priestess."
His claw gets shoved rudely away. "You just shut up about the AllSpark right now. We are not on good terms, not after last night."
Optimus wonders what the AllSpark was harassing her with while he was being given ... Primus, he doesn't want to remember what he did last night. Especially not being posed indecently on various seekers.
Sunstorm huffs, "I didn't get punished by the AllSpark for anything last night."
She pokes him in the cockpit, "But you did this morning. That's even worse. You don't even have the excuse of highgrade like Skywarp."
Optimus finally manages to get the secretarybot out the door, locking it firmly behind him. He hopes the bot doesn't go spreading gossip.
"We were all overcharged," Optimus interjects, trying to stop their squabbling. "And I am doing my best to purge the entire event from my processor."
Sari taps her foot, "They're just lucky the AllSpark thinks they're funny. If it was any other bot, there would have been a broken courtship we'd have to deal with."
Optimus gives her a horrified look, "I'd never-"
She waves at him dismissively, "I'm saying that normally giving you sex-ed would have meant the AllSpark gets upset."
"And we would never want to upset the all-powerful AllSpark," Sunstorm hums. "Not even when letting you leave this morning without so much as a kiss breaks all of our traditions."
The datapads are looking more and more enticing with every passing klik. Optimus would really like to read them now. Alone.
Sari gives the seeker a dirty look, "AllSpark doesn't give the slightest bit of a damn about your traditions when it comes to a courting couple." She leans against the cockpit windows, "I could just leave you to your fussy sparkling, you know."
Sunstorm pouts a bit. "Alright. I apologize. It's still not fair that it wouldn't even let us show him what a shard fragment felt like against his servo. What if he has to perform emergency maintenance some solar cycle? He shouldn't be surprised by how different it feels."
She looks at him for a moment, then says flatly, "Cyclonus." The jetbot looks up at her. "Slap him."
The bot gives her an almost amused look, says, "Yes, Sari," stands up, walks over, and slaps Sunstorm right across the face.
He's about to go sit down when Sari stops him, "And what did he learn from this, Cyclonus?"
The jetbot looks just a tiny bit more amused, "That the AllSpark does not approve of lies?"
"Very good, Cyclonus. Go back to doing what you want." He goes back to sitting on the floor, but is turned so he's watching them now, and Sari continues, "Now then, Sunstorm. Are you going to do that again?"
He rubs his faceplates, "No. I have learned my lesson, and I am glad to have been taught it by such a kind and wise Autobot."
Things get substantially more chaotic when Perceptor, Wheeljack, and Red Alert burst into his office. Optimus stares at the door. He could have sworn he had locked it.
The sciencebots march up to him, and Red Alert shoves a picture in his face, "Look what she did to our twins!"
Taking the picture so he can actually focus on it, he blinks in surprise at the see-through sparkplates on the twins. "Jetstorm looks like he's wearing a version of the plate I was onlined with."
"I don't care if they're the plates Primus himself was onlined with," Red Alert hisses. "They don't belong on our twins! They're alive, and Slipstream has them hidden somewhere!"
Perceptor holds out another datapad. "The images came with a note, where they claim to have run off with her of their own initiative, and apologize for not contacting us before now."
Sari walks over and takes the pictures from his fingers, and he takes the datapad with the note. Reading through it, he nods, "I am fairly certain that they didn't run off on their own, but they most likely think they did by now."
Sunstorm scoffs, "Who wouldn't want to run off with Slipstream?"
Sari hits the seeker on the window, almost absently, "You didn't."
"She made it clear that she did not enjoy spending time with us," Sunstorm says, almost mournfully.
One image shows Jetfire and Jetstorm inches away from kissing each other, optic dimmed, servos resting on each others' sparkplates. Sari holds it up, "At least they look pretty happy. And the AllSpark seems okay with it."
Cyclonus actually gets up and stands beside her as she flips through the pictures, while Red Alert slams her servos on the desk, "I don't care that the AllSpark approves! We haven't heard from them in over a stellar cycle, and this is what we get?"
Optimus takes the pads, copies the files, and hands the copies back to the other bots. He studies the images quickly, but Slipstream is good at what she does. There are no identifying markers that he can find in any picture. There is one picture that makes him pause.
"Well, I believe we've discovered where Skyshot disappeared to, after the war."
The picture is of the twins hugging Skyshot as the minibot glares at the camera. Perceptor sighs at it, "As if Shockwave didn't have enough reason to harass us."
Optimus intends to take the pads down for analysis, when his door abruptly opens again, and Ultra comes in. Optimus's enormous office is starting to feel crowded.
"Optimus, why did the seekers send me images of you licking energon off your servos?"
Not even looking at Ultra, Optimus turns to Sunstorm. "See? Not all Autobots knock first." He pauses, "Granted, Ultra normally does. I'm not really sure why he didn't this time."
His intended gives him a confused look, slightly derailed at the comment. "I was going to, but it just opened up before I could. But that isn't what I'm here to talk about! Seekers sending me video of you. Explain."
Perceptor points a finger at Wheeljack. "The automated systems on the base dislike him. I believe the low-level AI thinks he will explode any door that attempts to remain locked in his presence."
That sounded about right.
Optimus makes another copy of the files and hands it to Ultra, "We have more important things to worry about than my overcharged escapades."
Ultra looks through the files, and frowns, "Can we track them through this?"
Wheeljack shakes his head, and Optimus takes this opportunity to start putting his work away in his sub-space, "No, Slipstream is very good at what she does."
"Slipstream loves them," Sunstorm adds, entirely unhelpfully. "Or she wouldn't have put them in such pretty plates."
This sparks an argument that gives Optimus the chance to leave the room silently.
Flipping through the datapads, he hands some that he's finished to Cliffjumper. "If anyone asks for me, I'm still in my office."
The minibot raises an optic ridge, "And when they go in and see you're not?"
Optimus smiles, "Then I must have taken a break. I was just there. Clearly, I'll be back in a few kliks. And if they harass you about it, tell them they are perfectly capable of solving it themselves, if all the bots coming into my office are any indication."
"And if Ultra asks after you?"
Optimus rests a finger against his mouth, thinking. "You don't know where I am. I will have my com off save for your frequency. Please only use it if there is an emergency."
Cliffjumper nods hesitantly, then asks, "You aren't doing anything you aren't supposed to, are you?"
He sighs, "I plan on hiding and working. I'm supposed to do work in my office."
The minibot smiles and waves him off, "Go do that, sir. I thought so, but it is nice to know for sure."
Optimus leaves him behind, and drops the datapads off at the lab several floors down. "Please analyze these. We're not expecting much, but it is vital that you bump these up the priority list." The lab techs all nod and promise him they'll work on it, and Optimus goes down several floors more, to find a utility closet that never gets used.
He settles himself up on a high shelf with good lighting, and pulls out his datapads.
It is several megacycles later that he gets a com from Cliffjumper, making him jump. "Sir?"
Looking down at the door, he's pleased to note that no one seems to be outside of it, "Yes, Cliffjumper?"
"It is midday. You should drink a cube of energon."
Optimus smiles, glad to be reminded, "Thank you. If you hadn't told me, I'd never drink anything."
He sips at a cube of energon - he's planning on getting more from Ultra's home soon. And never informing Sari about it, for fear of her upgrading his new favorite dispenser. He'd grown fond of the only dispenser that gave him normal energon anymore.
Even the take-out stand he'd loved visiting had begun to give him better and better grades.
Sighing, he finishes the cube, and returns to work.
A little while later, he's looks up to the sound of a thump on the door. There's a lot of giggling, and a rattling of the door. He's just about to get up and open it, possibly to tell the ones there to leave, but the sound stops, and he returns to what he was doing.
It's many megacycles later when Cliffjumper coms him again.
"Sir, you need to go home. You've already clocked in a ridiculous amount of overtime this week alone."
Optimus frowns. "I take as much time as I need to finish the work."
"You think we don't know you're taking the datapads home with you? Are you ever not working, other than when Ultra is taking you on dates?"
He looks down at the large pile of datapads next to him and in his sub-space, "Sometimes I'm with my team?"
There's an exasperated sigh, "Do you know how much actual work there is to do, Optimus?"
He looks at the datapad in his servo, "More than anyone actually does?"
"No, Optimus. You have been doing a ridiculous amount of it since you got here. We don't have a large amount in the first place, and you're doing almost all of it because you don't seem used to the fact that there is a lot of dead time and very little to do."
"But," he stares at the pad again, "there's always work to be done. I leave every day with datapads that have been abandoned and unfinished. If I leave them here, they stay unfinished for weeks. It only takes a megacycle or so to complete them."
"Yeah, and it's other bots' jobs to do them." Cliffjumper sounds somewhere between amused and irritated. "And I'd appreciate if you stop taking pads from my desk."
He clutches the pad, "But I want something to do."
"And so do I. You take all of my work, except for filing. I'd like to have something to do other than calling up a bot to hand it off to, telling bots they can't bug you or Ultra, and playing a video game."
Optimus shakes his head to himself. "I'll take less pads from you. But I intend to stay busy. Someone has to do this work eventually, and if I'm capable, I intend to do it." He'd seen some of the lower level staff here-they had been genuinely busy with various files. If he can take some of that load off of them, he will.
There's an irritated huff, "You'll take no pads from me, unless I give them to you. Don't think I don't know about you sneaking down to help file things. You can't do that. Do you know how much extra work you give them? You're using a filing system they don't even know."
"They've never complained to me before." If he'd been filing things wrong, surely someone would have told him to stop, and explained the proper filing techniques.
"You're second in command, Optimus. They're not going to tell you to stop."
He puts his datapads in his sub-space, "But I told them to tell me if I was doing it wrong they could tell me."
"Optimus, think about who had your job before you."
He pauses, then frowns, "Sentinel."
"Exactly."
Optimus taps his fingers against his hip in thought. "But I don't want bots frightened of my temper. The worst I ever did, even when Bumblebee or the others outright disobeyed my orders, was write them up and give a few extra shifts as punishment."
"While Sentinel exiled Seaquake for reacting to energon being thrown at him and getting cursed at and insulted. There's a reason bots just go along with whatever you say, sir. We're fairly used to just letting things go."
"You shouldn't have to be like that," Optimus insists firmly. "And I'm going to make sure bots realize that. Tomorrow, I expect you to come down while I'm filing, and tell me I'm doing it wrong. Be rude about it. I don't want my staff frightened of unfair reprimands."
There's a sigh, "If that's what you want, but it is just going to send the message that you're nice to family."
He slips off the shelf, "Then you should also tell the bots that they are allowed to tell me these things, since they won't listen to me."
"I'm with Shockwave. They don't trust me the way they trust the rest of the secretarybots."
Optimus frowns. "Very well. I'm just going to have to win them over slowly. Eventually, they'll realize that I'm not going to abuse my position."
"You're showing it, but they're still getting used to it." There's a pause, and his voice turns slightly accusing, "Have you been working the entire time I've been talking to you?"
Optimus opens the door, and lets out a bark of laughter, "No. I was cleaning up the datapads. I want to drop everything off, then I'm heading home."
"No, Optimus. You and I are the only ones here. Go home."
He vents a long sigh. "Alright. I'm going." If he shows up on Ultra's doorstep, will the other bot invite him in for the night? He transforms and drives towards his apartment. He'd rather not take the risk there. It was slagging late. Ultra might be in recharge already.
He waves at the securitybot when he enters the building, and heads on up. When he enters, he's slightly surprised to find Blurr recharging on his couch. Fairly certain that the bot was there to talk to him, since if he just wanted a place that isn't home to sleep Blurr knows he can use a guest room, Optimus puts a servo on the blue bot's shoulder, and shakes him gently to wake him up.
Blurr blinks rapidly, sitting upright. "Optimus,-sir,-I-wanted-to," he shakes himself, "I-wanted-to-ask-if-my-Seeker-not-that-he's-actually-my-Seeker,-I-don't-own-him-but-if-he'd-done-anything-inappropriate-to-you-last-night.-Is-the-courtship-in-danger?"
Looking down at the carbot, Optimus shakes his head, "The courtship is fine, Blurr. Whenever they got out of line, the AllSpark would zap them. Sari said that it allowed them doing that because it thought it was funny. You could have just asked her this, you know."
"I-wanted-to-hear-it-from-you," Blurr insists, getting up to pace back and forth. "I-know-you-have-the-chance-to-accept-offers-from-other-bots-during-the-final-decacycle-of-your-courtship,-and-I-know-I-have-no-right-to-ask-this,-but-I-would-prefer-you-not-accept-the-offer-I-know-Sunstorm-is-going-to-make."
Pulling the bot over to stop his pacing, Optimus shakes his head in amusement, and wraps his arms around Blurr in a gentle hug, "I'm not going to accept any offer. I would never try to do that to you." He rests his forehead against the other bot's, "I'm happy with Ultra."
"Thank-you,-Optimus," Blurr says, and then looks around the room. "Do-you-mind-if-I-recharge-here-tonight?-Bee-and-Sunstorm-wanted-to-show-Firefly-movies-all-night."
Optimus winces at the idea of trying to sleep when a pair of seekers is singing Disney songs. "As long as you sleep in one of the guest rooms. The couch is no place to spend the night."
Blurr nods, and allows himself to be led into a guest room, where he promptly collapses on a berth, falling almost instantly into recharge. Optimus is bemused. It must be difficult being such a high-energy bot.
He leaves the bot behind, and heads for his own berth. He has an early shift at work the following day, and needs his recharge.