Torryn did not wake up on her own accord. No, the teen was dragged out of her peaceful sleep by the annoying repetitive sound of beeping. Grumbling, Torryn drowsily buried her head underneath her pillow, forcefully pressing the ends of the pillow to her ears as if to drown out the noise.

Unfortunately, this process did not work as, despite the noise being muffled, it was still there. Torryn nearly screamed in frustration, was it so hard for her to just get a little sleep? Besides, last time she remembered she did not live in the big city or a neighborhood for the matter; therefore, she should not have even heard the slightest noise coming from outside of her home.

.....That thought had Torryn shooting up faster than the blink of an eye, her mind kicked into overdrive. No one should know where her house was, who the hell was outside?

It took a second for the girl's memories to catch up with her, the redhead groaning when she recalled giving up her address the previous day. Was she really so tired she just had to give up her only means of privacy?

The constant honking seemed to answer her question, Torryn sighing while blowing an unruly piece of hair out of her face. She definitely had a bad case of bedhead.

Honk, honk, honk, HONK!

Shaking her head, Torryn was betting she knew exactly who it was that was outside her house. Only one person–or mech–had that much energy. Moving her comforter out of the way, Torryn slipped out of bed, her loose pajamas swaying as she made her way through her dark room (courtesy of her blackout curtains) stopping just in front of her window. Hesitantly, Torryn peeked outside, her guess being correct at the sight of Smokescreen sitting in all his race car glory on her large driveway.

Rolling her eyes, Torryn left the window while clapping her hands. "Alexa, turn on my bedroom lights." She called, her automated servant immediately switching on her bedroom lights.

Grabbing her frilly pink night robe, Torryn shoved her arms through the sleeves, tying the silky belt around her waist. Now that Smokescreen was aware of where she lived, he would no doubt be outside her house most of the time when she was home. She would need to allow him to recharge in the garage, and if she calculated correctly, her ceiling should have been high enough to allow Smokescreen to just stand up in bipedal mode.

With a tired yawn, Torryn was quick to put on her matching pink slippers before leaving her room and racing her way through her large home down the stairs and to the front door. Grasping the knob of the front doors, Torryn dramatically opened the double doors allowing the bright Nevada sunlight to filter within.

"Thank you for waking me up!" She sarcastically screamed, not worried about anyone hearing her.

Closing the doors behind her, Torryn walked through her front archway storming toward the loud mech on her driveway. With no shame, Smokescreen quickly transformed into his bipedal mode knowing there would be no one around for miles.

After Smokescreen had been informed of everything that happened and learning of Torryn's address, he raced through the ground-bridge and sat guard outside her house all night with the intentions of making sure she was okay for himself the next day. Oddly enough, sitting outside all night reminded him of his days of guarding Alpha Trion in the Iacon Halls of Records.

Finally, he could not wait any longer and opted to just wake her up so he could see her for himself.

Torryn screeched in surprise when her guardian took a giant step closer to her and then laid on his stomach so he was eye-level with her. Stumbling back, Torryn let out another yell of shock when Smokescreen brought up a large digit and began examining her body thoroughly.

She was unable to understand anything coming from his mouth as he was talking far too fast and frantic for her, the only things she was able to pick up upon being him scolding her and worrying about her arm.

If she was being honest the once intense pain had already dulled to a slight throb, the bandages working well in covering the stitches protectively.

"Smokescreen," Torryn cut the mech off sharply as his bright optics bore into her worriedly, the girl surprised as she had never been so close to his helm. One inch forward and she would be touching his face. "I am fine, I promise." She laughed a bit, Smokescreen still making no move away from her despite him practically being on top of her at this point.

His digit was also still splayed across her back.

"I was so worried about you," The mech mumbled sourly, ex-venting in a final relief that his charge was exactly how he remembered her from five days prior. "And I missed you," He mumbled in a soft tone causing Torryn's eyes to soften and (weirdly) her heart rate to speed up.

She had missed him too. Way more than she was ever willing to admit.

Torryn was confused by the way the mech was able to bring forth reactions that Torryn had never had before. Not even her ex-boyfriend (not that she was with him for long) was able to implicit these feelings out of her. But here was Smokescreen barely even trying and he had her heart thudding.

"God, you are such a big teddy bear, Smokey." Torryn playfully said while trying to keep her cheeks from turning red, she hated this flustered feeling.

Jesus Christ, what was happening to her.

Why did Smokescreen suddenly feel warmer? Why did the sight of Torryn make him feel mushy inside and make his spark fly?

This could not be happening. There was no way in the name of Primus that Smokescreen could actually be... no, he couldn't, but could he? Was he truly falling for a fleshy?

He had only ever had this feeling one other time, and even then it was not this strong. It was a simple attraction to a femme who was with him in the academy (he could not even remember her name now), but after he "graduated" he never saw her again and the crush disappeared.

But this? Dear Primus, what would the team say if they ever found out? This was so unprofessional, she had barely been his charge for three weeks and here he was beginning to fall for her. By the Allspark, help him.

Shaking his helm, Smokescreen kept his optics planted on Torryn, making sure his helm did not tint blue. "You live like five minutes away from the base and you let me drive all the way back to the school?" He said in exasperation causing Torryn to shrug.

"And where are your parents? Please don't tell me they're home." Smokescreen prayed to the Allspark he did not transform while her parents were home.

Knowing she could not say they were at work as Smokescreen would know she's lying since he never saw her "parents" leave that day decided on a more believable route.

   "Business trip," she shrugged.

It was not exactly a lie, her father was technically on a business trip for a still undecided amount of time and her mother... well her mother was on a business trip in the sky.

Slowly, Smokescreen got to his pedes leaving Torryn's personal space (the girl secretly wished he would have stayed that close). The young mech narrowed his eyes suspiciously sensing that optics was off with the way Torryn said her parents were on a business trip. In fact, since he had gotten to know her better, he could not shake the feeling that something totally off about her and everything she told him about herself; he was just not quite sure what yet.

"How long have your parents been on a business trip?"

Torryn nearly wanted to faint at the suspicious tone Smokescreen used while asking the question. He was beginning to catch onto her. Luckily for Torryn, Smokescreen was an easily distracted mech and currently, she had the perfect thing to distract him with.

Eyeing his dusty frame, Torryn smirked. "You need a bath, buddy."

"Huh?" Smokescreen tilted his head in confusion.

✸✸✸

"Are you sure about this?" Smokescreen questioned in a hesitant manner from his car mode, his lights flickering with his nerves.

How was he supposed to react? He had never seen a human without their protective layers, but here Torryn stood in front of him wearing barely any protective layering allowing him to take in her true natural form almost perfectly. Even Smokescreen, a complete alien to Earth, realized Torryn was eye candy.

Standing in front of him holding a bucket in her right hand with nothing but a baby blue bikini on was Torryn. She had decided to pull her once bedhead ridden hair in a high ponytail to keep it out of her face as she gave Smokescreen a much-needed wash. She was willing to bet the mech had not been washed in a hot second.

Dropping the bucket causing a small amount of water to slosh over the edges and hit her bare feet, Torryn mocking cracked her knuckles.

"Oh yeah, you are in dire need of a wash, Smokey." Torryn purred causing for Smokescreen's engine to rev in what she perceived as embarrassment but was actually something that Torryn did not realize the meaning behind.

Turning on her heel, Torryn walked into her garage (which was now open) going over to the radio sitting on a small stand by the wall. Every single car her father owned was currently present except for the Benz which was still sitting in the school parking lot. Torryn made a mental note to have Smokescreen drive her to the school after so she could grab it and drive it back home.

Flicking on the radio, Torryn bopped her head to a random pop song that filled the air. Strutting back to where she left the bucket just in front of Smokescreen in the driveway, Torryn could not help but admire the car. She had to admit, Smokescreen chose a rather nice car as his alt mode; after all, most humans wished to own such a luxurious car in their lifetime. Even Torryn whose father both owned and had owned many expensive cars would feel lucky to have such a car as Smokescreen's alt mode.

Torryn knew she was always a weird girl, but in her mind, this was becoming ridiculous. Now she was checking out cars, what the hell? Of course, had she not liked Smokescreen himself so much she probably would not be checking out a car of all things.

The same could be said about Smokescreen. Had he not been falling for Torryn, he probably would not be looking at an essential 'alien' to him as a potential spark-bond.

Grabbing the hose, Torryn smiled while turning it on. "Ready?"

"No."

Ignoring Smokescreen's reply, Torryn sprayed Smokescreen with the hose causing water to splash all over him. The car vibrated as Smokescreen made surprised static noises causing the teenager to laugh while she sprayed the hose all over him.

"Oh wow, that actually feels... good."

"Told you," Torryn smiled as she set the hose down, allowing the water to run down the driveway.

"So," Torryn squirted a large amount of soap in the bucket of water, smiling as the foam in the water rose up. "Tell me your story again." She said, knowing Smokescreen enjoyed telling it and she loved listening. Quickly, she dropped a rag in the water before slapping it on his hood.

Torryn snickered as Smokescreen let out a long groan of pleasure while she dragged the rag down his hood, unable to stop his processor from comparing this to something much dirtier; not that Torryn ever had to know that.

"Well," His voice came out staticky. "I was an Elite Guardsmen, guarded Alpha Trion myself--" He paused when Torryn hit that perfect spot. "Oh, oh, yes! Right there!" His engine revved as Torryn managed to get all the dirt and grime off his hood.

Next was his windshield. "Anyway," Smokescreen was beginning to find it extremely difficult to speak more than moans of pleasure through this. "The 'Cons launched a massive surge that wiped out the last line of defenses surrounding Iacon and I was the only one left to hold them back."

Torryn hummed a sign that she was listening while scrubbing down his windshield causing him to let out a series of pleasurable sighs. "Damn it, Smokey," Torryn grumbled when the car flicked his windshield wipers causing Torryn to need to jump back or get hit.

"Sorry, it just feels so good," Smokescreen mumbled in embarrassment before continuing on with his story. "Anyway, I was pretty pumped..." Torryn had taken to washing the driver's seat window, following along toward his rear while scrubbing in a gentle soothing manner making sure he was nothing less than sparkling.

She wanted to be able to see her own reflection by the time she was finished.

"Because Iacon was not close to the battlegrounds, we hadn't seen much action over the course of the war. So, this was my chance to get involved with some real combat to prove myself. But then, before they had even broken through, everything went black," He paused as if the memory still spooked him which Torryn knew it probably did.

Torryn made a noise of sympathy while washing her guardian's trunk, the Autobot purring as she did this. Even as he was telling his essential life story, the fact still stood that he was doing it while being washed. As odd as it was, it was the equivalent of someone massaging his body with water and scrubbing him down; odd but definitely not unwanted.

"The 'Cons took me prisoner and took me onto a transport ship. I managed to give a guard the slip and hopped in an escape pod, but it was a long-distance pod because it knocked me into stasis. Next thing I know I'm hitting solid ground where I onlined to find myself on Earth a few weeks ago." Smokescreen explained, just managing to ground out the last few words before he was reduced to a series of pleasurable engine purrs as Torryn scrubbed exhaust particles out of his back tailpipes.

"So you literally haven't been away from Cybertron for more than a month mentally," Torryn shook her head. "While the others have been fighting intergalactically for thousands of years--"

Smokescreen cut her off finishing for her. "I've been fighting off-world for barely a human month; yeah. Honestly, Earth is in much better shape than Cybertron ever was when I lived on it, when I first onlined we were already knee-deep into the war and the planet was more than halfway gone. Your planet; on the other hand, is more peaceful than anything I've seen before, even with the Decepticons. I can only imagine how it was before the 'Cons arrived."

"Eh, we still have wars of our own, but they're not nearly as bad as the Autobot-Decepticon war you guys are in." Torryn hummed as she came up his other side, scrubbing his passenger's window now. "But, with all the technological advances of the future coming, I don't think any wars of ours will turn out okay, we'll probably end up killing ourselves in the next few hundred years with all these stupid bombs the countries are threatening over each other." She explained, moving onto another question before Smokescreen could respond. "Do you have siblings or I don't know what you call them on Cybertron; parents?"

Smokescreen hummed as a yes. "Yeah, but we call our parents our carrier and sire. My carrier was offlined from a Decepticon and my sire was a part of the Autobot cause. But he was offlined too." He said sadly making Torryn's heart lurch for him. "My older brother; Prowl, he was an Autobot military strategist, one of the best I heard. I never saw him again after I was sent to boot camp, but Optimus told me he sent him to keep charge of an Autobot evac ship which left Cybertron during the fall. No one's heard from him since. Bluestreak is the middle brother, he was one of the best sharp-shooters for the Autobots. But he was sent with Prowl on the evac ship that no one ever heard from." Smokescreen finished in a downtone completely opposite to his normal upbeat personality. "I just wish I knew if they were alright."

"I'm sorry," Torryn finally said, her tone holding sympathy for her charge. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love." She explained while dipping the rag back in the bucket.

Torryn didn't dare say anymore, not ready to spill the beans that she lied about her mother being alive. Smokescreen, though he was curious as to who she was talking about decided not to push her any further.

Dropping the rag back on his windshield, Torryn leaned over until she was pressed against him tightly. As she continued to scrub him, her breast pushed against his glass and Smokescreen could not help but let out a groan.

Raising a brow, Torryn got off of him happy with her heavy work. "What's wrong with you?" She asked while dropping the rag in the bucket and grabbing the hose.

As she rinsed him off, smiling at her job well-done, she choked at Smokescreen's next words. "Why are you so promiscuous?"